Zaku of Konoha
by VaanRagnarok
Summary: The story of three young shinobi and their journey through life as they battle powerful enemies and face their own inner demons. This is an alternate Naruto future and many things differ from the show so don't expect your nomal Naruto universe.
1. Day One for Team Three!

_**Chapter 1: Day One for Team Three!**_

Zaku opened his eyes and yawned. He sat up and rubbed sleep from his eyes. He threw the covers to the side and slid off of the bed. Zaku looked in the mirror as he yawned again. He was twelve years old and his brown hair was spiked forwards and went off to the right side. His white eyes signified him as a descendent of Hyuuga blood.

"My first day…" He said to himself as he slowly woke up. There was a knock on the door and someone poked their head in.

"Hey Zaku, time for your first day at the academy, you ready?" It was Uzumaki Naruto, some thirty years old he had grown a goatee, but still wore similar clothes at he always had.

"It's still early uncle Naruto…" Zaku said. Naruto opened the door fully and walked in.

"Hey, this is an important day, believe it!" He said as his usual excitement filled him.

"Yeah… I know but… can't just go in at like noon?" Zaku said nervously. Naruto laughed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it Zaku, everyone gets nervous before they go to the academy for the first time, its no big deal. But you do have to actually go before you become a ninja, so how about gettin' dressed?"

He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. Zaku opened the closet and put on some green cargo shorts over the boxers he was wearing and pulled on a white t-shirt with a red Konoha leaf symbol on it. He headed out of the room and down the stairs. He got downstairs and saw Naruto sitting at a table and eating ramen. Hyuuga Hinata was sitting across from him and drinking tea. Zaku looked at the two of them and smiled, they always seemed so happy. She smiled when she saw him and set her tea down.

"I'm glad you're awake Zaku, are you excited about your first day at the academy?" Zaku started to talk, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Of course he is! Who wouldn't be! You're gunna' be a great ninja just like your uncle Naruto huh!" Zaku cracked a smile, Naruto was more excited about this than he was. Hinata smiled at Naruto, probably thinking the same thing. She stood up and walked over to him.

"Zaku, I know that it must be hard moving to Konoha and starting the academy after what happened to your mother, but I want you to know that I'm more than happy to have you here. Your mother and I had grown apart somewhat after I left the head family, but she was still my sister and I'm glad that she wanted you to live with me." She hugged him and pointed to the clock. "You should probably get going." He wasn't quite sure what to say to that, he didn't have a great memory of his mother, most of his childhood with the head family was in patches.

"Thanks aunt Hinata..." Naruto rushed him out with his enthusiastic way. Hinata gave him a lunch and they wished him good luck.

"Say hello to Sakura for me!" Naruto yelled as Zaku walked away, to which Hinata gave him a slightly dirty look.

He was walking down the road that led from their house for a while before he realized he had no idea were he was going.

"Aw hell, first day in this place and I'm lost already..." He heard someone come up behind him and he turned around. It was a kid who looked about his age. He wore a grey hoody with the hood up and white cargo pants. He had red line tattoos on either side of his face.

"Names Inuzuka Kiba, you new in town?" Zaku nodded.

"Uh... yeah, I guess I am." He said. So he followed Kiba to the academy, getting to know the guy along the way. He was named after his father, and seemed to be a little bullheaded. They got to the academy late, but Kiba didn't seem too worried about it.

"Hell, they'll hold the class for the strongest guys in the village!" He laughed and pushed open the doors. Haruno Sakura stood in front of the small class room and was in the middle of welcoming the new students.

"Well, looks like we have a few late arrivals. Inuzuka Kiba... and Hyuuga Zaku I presume?" She gave them an evil eye that sent chills down Zaku's spine. Kiba put his hands behind his head and casually walked into the room.

"Yeah, who else would we be?" She shot across the room in the blink of an eye and had a hold of his ear."Ow! Hey leggo' a me!" she drug him over towards the seats and pushed him up the stairs.

"Go sit down! If you think you're back talking me you got another thing coming!" She said and turned to Zaku. He slid past and ran up the steps, and he and Kiba took seats in the back as a few murmurs of laughter ran through the class.

Kiba leaned over to him and whispered.

"You know what they say, those who can't do, teach." he started to laugh a little, but Sakura was on them in a second and yelling at Kiba again.

Time seemed to fly by. Day after day he went to the academy and learned in the ways of the ninja. It was about as basic as you could get since it was the lowest level of training. Leaning about Chakra and basic Jutsu was harder than he had thought it would be. Zaku didn't do to bad, but didn't exactly find school work fun. They didn't do very much 'hands on' training, but what they did do taught him that he had above average Chakra and control. He really wasn't sure the significance of that, but he figured it couldn't hurt. Slowly, he had gotten used to these people. Kiba was always as loud and wild as anyone he had ever seen, but they became pretty good friends. Sakura remained as bi-polar as ever, but she was a decent teacher. There were about twenty people total in the class, but not many of them stood out. There was Nara Ino, the daughter of Nara Shikamaru the shadow master and Sakura's rival Yamanaka Ino. Aburame Shuno was the son of Aburame Shino the bug master. Rock Kari, daughter of Rock Lee and Ten-Ten. Hyuuga Jira from the head family. Agari Ayame was the daughter of a great healer. And Kinata Dosu, who stayed quite most of the time and always set the curve.

Three years passed in the academy. Zaku was sitting in the back of the class, waiting for his turn. It was graduation day, nine students would become Genin after the test was over. It was a simple test, successfully complete a duplication Jutsu. A lot of the student had trouble with it, but he wasn't all that worried. He had done perfect duplication Jutsu before, it was Kiba he was worried about. Kiba was a great fighter, he had inherited the Beast style Jutsu of his clan, and was pretty good at using it, but he had never exactly been a master at Ninjutsu.

"Man, I don't know if I'll be able to do this Zaku..." Kiba said nervously. Zaku shrugged and stepped forward as the line moved.

"I'm sure you'll be fine Kiba... just... try not to overdo it and you'll be fine." The person in front of him failed to make a very good clone and moved on. Zaku stepped up to take his turn. Sakura stood there with a clip board and smiled.

"Alright Zaku, your turn." She said and waited for him to go.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He said, and made the simple hand seal. Six shadow clones appeared on either side of him.

"Very good Zaku, you pass easily." Sakura said with a little laugh. The clones disappeared and he walked away and heard Kiba mutter something in a mocking voice.

"Just don't overdo it and you'll be fine... showoff..." Zaku smirked and walked over to the door and waited. Kiba did his best when he was mad.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said and made the hand signal. A clone appeared beside him. Sakura looked at it for a second and Kiba looked like he was going to lose it.

"Not bad at all Kiba, not bad at all." The clone disappeared he looked like he was really relieved.

"Did you ever doubt me for a second! Oh yeah!" Kiba strutted out of the classroom and past Zaku. Zaku laughed and followed him outside with the rest of the class. All of the people that Zaku noticed had passed. The forehead protectors were handed out later that evening and everyone left for home. Tomorrow would be the Genin team assignments. Zaku and Kiba were walking back when someone caught their attention.

"Zaku!" he turned to see Jira walking up behind them. He had never liked Jira very much, mostly because Jira had never liked him. He had never done anything to the guy, but he was part of the Hyuuga main family, from which Zaku had been kicked out. Hinata had left the family, and since he chose to live with her, he was also exiled.

"So, you managed to make it? No big deal, your still just a worthless punk." Jira said with disgust in his voice. Kiba balled up his fist and got ready to lay Jira out.

"Touch me and I'll have you put down, mutt." He said with his smirky grin. Zaku starred him down, looking into the same white eyes that he had.

"Jira...I know that you don't like me. But if you think that for one second I'm afraid of you, then you're dumber than I thought. If we ever cross paths after becoming ninja... I will not hesitate to kill you." Zaku turned and walked away, Kiba followed a second later, barely stopping himself from attacking Jira.

Naruto was overjoyed that Zaku had become a Genin, so much so that he drank himself into a stupor. Hinata was proud of him, but Jira worried her.

The next morning he made his way to the academy. He had started dressing different to match his new rank. A baggy black t-shirt with a collar that went up to his chin overtop of a long sleeve mesh shirt. He had blue fingerless gloves with metal hand protectors on the back that fit nicely. He had khaki cargo shorts with his Kunai holder on the right leg. His shoes were the normal ninja style shoes. He wore his forehead protector on his forehead like most ninja did, his bangs on the right covering it slightly.

He met up with Kiba at the academy, it was one of the few times they had been on time. Kiba wore more or less what he always had, but now had a Kunai holder and his forehead protector. They were waiting for a while before everyone who had passed arrived. Sakura walked into the room and held up her clipboard.

"I have the Genin teams right here... but before I tell you what they are there is something I want to say. This is the beginning of the rest of your lives, becoming a Genin is the first steps all ninja must take... today you are officially Shinobi." Everyone was very nervous. If you got a good sensei you could go far, if not, it was an uphill battle. Although every single person who was in charge of a Genin group was an elite Jounin, some were better teachers than others.

"Aburame Shuno...Rock Kira...and Heiken Hautso... you will be the first team..." Zaku didn't know who the third guy was, he had never even noticed him. He thought about it for a second… that was probably good for a ninja.

"Kinata Dosu...Hyuuga Jira... and Agari Ayame... you are team two... that leaves Hyuuga Zaku, Inuzuka Kiba, and Nara Ino for the final team." Kiba jumped out of his chair and cheered.

The teams all gathered together slowly, only Kiba seemed to feel strongly about the teams either way. Ino walked over to Zaku and Kiba. She looked almost identical to her mother when she was her age. But she had black hair like her father, and instead of purple, her clothes were a dark maroon. She looked from Zaku to Kiba, then back again.

"Great, I get stuck with the dropout brothers..." She said in a sarcastic tone. Kiba stopped his celebration dead and turned to her.

"Like we need you anyway, you would just get in our way to becoming great ninja!"

Ino rolled her eyes and pushed him down into a chair.

"You wish mutt, I have more talent in my little finger than you do in your whole body." Zaku stepped in between them.

"Hey come on now, we're a Genin team. The last thing we need is to fight amongst ourselves." He said looking back and forth between them. Kiba got up and stuck his tongue out at her. "Yeah yeah, just stay outta' my way you imp!" he said.

She crossed her arms and looked away. "Your so immature, mutt."

Sakura cleared her throat a couple of times to get the attention of everyone who was now talking with their new teammates.

"Hey shut up!" She yelled at the top of her lungs after she failed to get anyone's attention. Everyone stopped and looked at her.

"Okay... now... I have a special treat for you all today, there is a special guest here!" She motioned towards the door dramatically. Everyone waited a few seconds, but no one showed up. Sakura got an angry look on her face and she muttered to herself.

"Late again...as usual..." The door slowly creaked open and everyone looked expectantly. A man made his way into the room, a long white and red cloak and a Hokage's hat pulled low over his face. Sakura smiled and turned back to the class.

"Everyone! This is my former sensei, and the village Hokage! The sixth Hokage, Hatake Kakashi!" She motioned to him proudly and he pushed his hat up with a finger.

"Yo" He said casually and waved with one hand.

The Hokage was a man of few words, Kakashi hadn't changed much in old age. He still carried around his little love novel everywhere he went. Zaku got the impression that he was a nice guy, but something seemed to be just beneath the surface. Nothing particularly bad or anything, just extremely powerful. Kakashi gave a short speech about being the future of Konoha, and how someone here might become Hokage some day.

Sakura passed out a piece of paper to each team after the Hokage left. She handed team three's to Ino and wished everyone good luck. Zaku leaned back in his chair and looked over at her.

"What does it say Ino?" he asked. She read it over a couple of times, than looked up at him.

"It's directions..." Kiba looked at her skeptically.

"Are you sure? Let me see it!" He grabbed for it, but Ino pulled it away.

"Can you even read?" She teased him.

Zaku interrupted them again. "Probably directions to meet our new sensei..." He said. They looked at him for a second, than agreed.

"What are we waitin' for then? Let's go!" Kiba said jumping up from his seat. Ino nodded and Zaku shrugged and followed them out.

Twenty minutes later they had made their way to the outer walls of Konoha. Kiba already looked bored. Ino looked at the paper again, and then pointed to one of the many training areas in and around Konoha village.

"Looks like that's the place..." They made their way out of the walls and into the little training area. It was at the edge of the enormous forest that Konoha was famous for, and three five foot tall stumps stood in the small clearing. An alarm clock sat on the center stump.

"What the hell is this about?" Kiba said as he walked up to it with his hands behind his head casually. He got within a few feet of it, when the ground exploded below him and a net shot up from the ground and pulled him into a nearby tree.

"Hey! What the hell! Get me down from here!" He kicked and screamed inside of the net, and Ino laughed at him. Zaku felt something behind him, and spun around to see the back of a man with his hands in his pockets and dressed in an all black version of the Jounin gear. Ino stopped laughing and turned towards him too. He looked back over his shoulder, his red eyes glowing like embers.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke, your new sensei."


	2. First Mission, Deadly Ambush!

**_Chapter 2:First Mission, Deadly Ambush! _**

Zaku took a step back and Ino did the same. Sasuke turned around and faced them. He held up a small bell on a string in his hand.

"You have thirty minutes, if this bell is still within my possession when that alarm goes off, I'm sending you back to the academy."

"What! Back to the academy!" Kiba managed to cut himself free from the net with a kunai and dropped to the ground.

"Shinobi must think on their feet, and failure in the real world often results in death. Either you are going to succeed, or you can stop wasting my time." He stood, waiting for their first move. Kiba was happy to oblige. He dashed off towards Sasuke in a blind rush.

"Kiba no!" Zaku tried to stop him, but Kiba jumped over top of him and came down at Sasuke in a power strike.

"Slow..." Sasuke muttered, than disappeared.

"What!" Kiba landed on his hand and flipped over to his feet. Ino looked around, than pulled a kunai out.

"Spread out, if we..." Ino started to talk strategy, but Kiba interrupted her. "Shut up, I don't need you to tell me what to do!" He jumped into the air and towards a tree that Sasuke had just appeared in.

"Idiot!" She said as she jumped after him. Sasuke disappeared as Kiba reached him. He landed on the branch and looked around.

"Dammit were did he go!" Ino landed short of the branch to cover more ground.

Zaku swung his arm backwards hard and punched when he felt Sasuke behind him. But the Jounin blocked it casually with on arm. Sasuke swept low with his leg and kicked Zaku's feet out from under him. He put a hand to the ground and flipped himself away. Sasuke smiled and held the bell up.

"None of you have a chance on your own." Ino ran over next to Zaku as Kiba jumped down and did the same.

"We'll have to use teamwork if we have any chance of doing this..." She said to everyone, not taking her eyes off of Sasuke. He jumped far backwards and landed on top of on of the stumps. Ino thought for a second, than came up with a plan.

"Kiba, distract him. I'll try to incapacitate him with my Shadow Bind Jutsu, Zaku, you grab the bell." Zaku readied himself.

"Sounds good Ino..." He said. Kiba gritted his teeth. "Don't tell me what to do!" He tore off after Sasuke. Ino laughed to herself. "Heh, that's why you're the distraction, mutt." She started her hand seals and moved to the middle of the clearing. Zaku powered up his chakra and got ready. Kiba dove after Sasuke, who jumped him and kicked him with both feet, sending him crashing into the stump. Sasuke flipped backwards to the ground. Kiba scrambled after him, but Sasuke spun and sent him flying away.

"Shadow Bind Jutsu!" Ino's shadow stretched out and shot at Sasuke's shadow.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Zaku duplicated himself into two and jumped at Sasuke. Ino's shadow connected with Sasuke's perfectly.

"Got him!" She exclaimed and held the Jutsu in place. Zaku dove at him and grabbed at the bell. Sasuke disappeared in poof of smoke and the two Zakus were left with a handful of smoke.

"What the?" Ino said as the Shadow Bind Jutsu broke. Sasuke appeared behind her and lightly chopped the back of her neck. She flew forward to the ground. Kiba got to his feet and tore off after Sasuke again.

"You two are very well adept for your age. You on the other hand..." He grabbed the charging Kiba by the arm and threw him into the clone Zaku which destroyed him. Sasuke smiled as he looked over the three. He remembered back when he was a Genin, these three reminded him of him Naruto and Sakura.

"It didn't work... this is impossible...he's too much stronger than us..." Zaku shook his head in disbelieve. Sasuke looked over to Kiba and shook his head.

"You're of the Inuzuka clan correct? Where is your dog?" He asked. Kiba gritted his teeth and balled up his fists.

"I... was supposed to get it after the Genin graduations... but guess where I had to be?" He said sarcastically. Sasuke looked at Ino.

"Your father is Nara Shikamaru? I'm assuming that he taught you that technique... and I see that you have picked up at least some of his problem solving abilities." Ino blushed and shrugged her shoulders. Sasuke looked over to Zaku.

"And you're an interesting one aren't you? Formally of the Hyuuga clan, you live with Uzumaki Naruto don't you? He was the only other one I've seen to do the Shadow Clone Jutsu so well at such a young age. He taught you that if I'm not mistaken. Tell me something, how skilled are you at the Hyuuga clan's Jutsu?"

Zaku thought about it for a second.

"I can do the Byakugan to a degree, but I cannot hold it for very long." He said, thinking about how Hinata had taught him the basics of the Hyuuga white eyes technique.

"And the Juken style, what of it?" Sasuke asked again. Zaku shook his head, he hadn't been able to efficiently use the Juken fighting style very well yet. Sasuke nodded.

"Understandable at your age without an elder Hyuuga to teach you I suppose." Sasuke nodded and threw the bell to Zaku.

"You all pass." He said as he turned and walked over to the clock. Kiba looked over at Zaku and shook his head.

"I don't get it... he just gave it to us?" He scratched his head. Ino put her hands on her hips and sighed.

"He was just testing us I guess..." Sasuke grabbed the clock and turned back to them.

"There was no way any of you could have gotten it. But you got closer than I expected you to." He turned the clock off and started walking back towards the village.

"Congratulations team three; you're now officially a Genin squad." He said casually.

"We begin training here tomorrow at six a.m. don't be late." He leapt away into town. Kiba cracked a smile, and then erupted into cheering.

"Yeah! We did it! We're Genin!" He started laughing and he and Ino hugged. A second later they realized it and pushed each other away.

"Get offa' me mutt!" she said and crossed her arms and turned her nose up. He grunted and turned away from her. Zaku laughed at them and started walking back towards the village.

"WHAT!" Naruto exclaimed and smashed his fists down on the table when he heard that Sasuke was Zaku's sensei. Hinata laughed to herself at Naruto, it was just like him to over react like this. Naruto more or less pouted the rest of the night. Zaku didn't fall asleep quickly that night, his real training was about to begin, and he couldn't wait.

Zaku sat under and tree and Ino was perched atop one of the stumps, awaiting Kiba and Sasuke. Zaku stretched his arms and yawned. Ino looked over at him.

"Didn't sleep well?" She asked absently. Zaku yawned again.

"Hardly at all, I was thinking about today." He said sleepily. They heard someone coming and both of them got alert quickly. Kiba came trotting along the path with a big smile on his face, and a small dog trailing behind him. It had spiky grey fur and looked to be some kind of young wolf. Kiba whistled and the dog jumped up onto his back and sat in his down hood and stuck its head and front legs over his shoulder. It barked when Kiba came up to Zaku and Ino. Ino looked at it with a trouble expression.

"Oh great, he got an accomplice..." she said rolling her eyes. The little dog growled at her and Kiba laughed.

"His name is Akumaru!" Kiba said enthusiastically as he pulled the little dog off of his shoulder and held him up. Zaku got up and walked over to him. He bent down and looked at the dog. He put his hand up to its mouth and held it there.

"Uh... good boy?" He said. Akumaru sniffed at him for a second, and then bit his hand.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Zaku yanked his hand away and Akumaru held on. He ran around in a circle screaming as Kiba chased behind him yelling at Akumaru.

"They say that the Inuzuka clan bonds with their animals at a spiritual level." Ino turned around to see Sasuke standing there watching. She turned back to the scene and laughed.

"Looks like they'll get along real well." She said.

They began their training shortly after. It was hard, and Sasuke was a strict sensei. They trained day and night for about a week. Kiba and Akumaru strengthened their bond. The little dog proved to be more of an asset than anyone had thought it could be. Sasuke helped Ino develop her natural intuition and problem solving skills. Zaku trained his Byakugan by having it on all the time. They worked on their basics a lot, training their stealth and combat over and over. Sasuke taught him how to tap into the Juken style, but he could only tell him so much since he wasn't from the Hyuuga clan. They all walked out to the training grounds together most of the time. Ino and Kiba continued to argue constantly, but it was usually harmless. They made their way to the Hokage's office one day after they were called upon. They were sent inside by the guards, and found Kakashi and Sasuke talking over a paper.

"I'm glad to see you here." Kakashi said as he looked up at them. Sasuke stood up and turned to them.

"It's time for your first mission." He said. Everyone immediately got excited. Kakashi held up a scroll that had writing on it.

"This is a low ranked mission since it's your first. You are to take this scroll to a feudal lord in the country of tea."

Akumaru barked and Kiba nodded. "What's on the scroll?" He asked. Sasuke looked at him. "That's not for us to worry about. We were hired to take it to the country of tea, and it's important enough to require something more than a normal courier." Ino put her hands on her hips and sighed.

"Delivery? Not very exciting is it?" She said. Kakashi looked up and her and held up his index finger.

"Most Shinobi missions are not as exciting as people think." She bowed her head. Sasuke walked over to the door.

"We should get going right away if we want to make good time." He said. They followed him out and everyone got ready to leave.

They met at the gate when everyone was ready, and headed for the country of tea. They walked along for a while without much happening. Sasuke told them to keep their guard up. A mission like this could go from a low rank to an A rank mission quickly if someone hired a high level ninja from another village to oppose them.

"Aw man... I thought that this was going to be fun to have a mission for the first time, this is just boring." Kiba complained as he walked along with Akumaru sitting in his hood like usual. Zaku started to say something, but Akumaru sniffed the air. Everyone stopped and looked at him. Sasuke's eyes shot back and forth at the thick woods on either side of the dirt road. Kiba looked over at Akumaru.

"What is it?" He asked. Akumaru barked and Kiba looked up at Sasuke.

"He says there are three people, about thirty meters to the south, moving at us slowly." Sasuke nodded, he had come to the same conclusion.

"Zaku, try and find out what you can see." Sasuke said to him. Zaku nodded and did his hand seal.

"Byakugan!" His eyes widened and faint veins popped to the surface at his temples. His vision raced through the woods like an outer body experience. Seeing right through trees and rocks as it went. Thirty meters to the south he saw them. Three of them, all dressed in a black jumpsuit. They wore the hidden village of grass symbols on their forehead protectors. They all had their faces covered from the nose down with metal masks. Two of them had full tight hoods covering their head, and the one in the middle had long black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. He had straps covering his arms and legs whereas the other two did not. All of them had simple holders and pockets on belts. They were moving slowly through the woods, trying to not be detected.

"I can confirm, three moving in our direction, looks like they know we are here. They're from the village hidden in the grass." Zaku said pulling his vision back to him. Akumaru sniffed the air again.

"Something else Akumaru..." Kiba started to ask, but Sasuke pushed everyone to the ground.

"DOWN!" he yelled as he knocked everyone down. Just in time, as a giant shuriken on a chain tore onto the path from the woods to their north. It chopped down trees and kept going, swinging around back to where it came from and back into the darkness of the woods. Sasuke jumped back up and looked into the woods, pulling a kunai out.

"Was the first group a distraction?" He said to himself. "Everyone, be on your guard now!" He yelled as everyone stood up and pulled out kunai. Akumaru jumped down in front of Kiba and growled at the woods to the south.

"Akumaru says they don't feel much different in strength from us." Kiba said, keeping his eyes on the woods. Sasuke nodded and smiled.

"Good, then I can take care of the leader... make sure not to die on the first mission." He said as the shuriken came back. Everyone hit the ground, and Sasuke grabbed onto the giant shuriken and was pulled off into the woods.

"He left us!" Ino said annoyed. Kiba braced himself.

"No time!" He said as the three grass ninja burst out of the woods. Zaku yelled to the others as soon as the enemy ninja were in sight.

"Split them up! We'll each take one." Ino and Kiba nodded and attacked the ninjas on the sides. They split off in opposite directions and left Zaku with the leader.

"Heh, you think you can fight me?" The ninja said in a muffled voice from behind his mask. Zaku held his kunai up in a defensive position and made a seal with his other hand.

"Byakugan!" his vision Jutsu activated in its alternate version. Instead of long range vision in one direction, this way gave him a three hundred and sixty degree view around his head. It also let him see little details with drastically more accuracy than normal. His ability to see Chakra flow was greatly enhanced as well.

"Try me!" He yelled to the ninja leader.

Ino kicked the grass ninja hard in the chest, sending him flying backwards trying to keep his ground. She made her hand seals and readied her chakra.

"Shadow Bind Jutsu!" she yelled and her shadow stretched out and lanced into the grass ninja's shadow and merged with it. "Gotcha!" she yelled happily. The ninja tried to move but found himself unable to do so.

"What... did you do?" He said from behind his mask. Ino laughed and moved her arm around. The ninja's arm moved as hers did simultaneously.

"Heh heh heh, you see? Your shadow is bound to mine, you can only move how I want you to!"

Kiba ducked a slash from the grass ninja's kunai and brought up a powerful uppercut that send the ninja sprawling away. He caught his balance and slid to a stop.

"I'll kill you right here!" he yelled, throwing a handful of shurikens. Kiba blocked all of them with his kunai and they fell to the ground. Akumaru leapt off of Kiba's back and into the air towards the grass ninja.

"A dog? Are you joking?" he threw his kunai at Akumaru, but the little dog flipped over it and came down onto the ninja. He bit onto his neck and the ninja screamed out in pain. Kiba rushed him and spin kicked him into a tree. Akumaru jumped off and back to Kiba's side.

Zaku ducked a swipe from the ninja leader's double sided kunai. He flipped backwards and kicked the grass ninja in the chin as he did. Zaku dashed forward as soon as his feet hit the ground and drove his elbow into the back of the ninja while he was still in the air. The ninja flew through the air towards a tree, but kicked off of it and went flying back at Zaku. Zaku jumped just high enough to clear the oncoming enemy. He thrust his feet down just as the enemy flew under him and drove him face first into the ground. He flipped away and landed in a ready stance. The grass ninja scrambled up and charged him. He dodged strike after strike with ease, sweeping the enemies feet out from under him.

"I can tell which ways you're going to go before you even make the move; your body language gives you away." Zaku said to the ninja. He jumped to his feet, swinging his double kunai and he did so. Zaku parried the attack and sent the double kunai flying into a tree. The grass ninja began a complex hand seal and muttered to himself.

"I won't let you!" Zaku threw his kunai, but the ninja ducked it and finished the hand seals.

"Poison Cloud Jutsu!" He pulled his mask down and spewed a thick green smoke from his mouth in a stream. Zaku covered his mouth and jumped straight up as the thick gas surrounded him. He rose above it and flipped backwards into a tree.

"The gas is to think to see him..." He concentrated his Byakugan into the smoke and the x-ray took effect. He looked from one side of the cloud to another.

"There you are!" He said as he saw the grass ninja standing in the middle of the cloud, doing another complex hand seal.

"Damn it was just a cover!" Zaku said to himself. The straps on the leader's right arm glowed with chakra, then shot off of his arm, flying out of the smoke and wrapping around Zaku's neck like tentacles, pulling him into the poison cloud.

Ino looked over the grass ninja trapped in her shadow bind jutsu. She smiled to herself as she saw were his kunai holder was. This was exactly why she kept hers on the back of her waist. She reached down to her side and the ninja did the same. She reached to where his kunai holder was and grabbed one. There was nothing in her hand, but he had a kunai in his. His eyes grew wide as he saw what she was doing. She held her hand up to her neck; he pressed the kunai tightly up against his.

"You lose." Ino said with a cold look on her face. She brought her hand out and hit her shoulder hard. The ninja screamed in pain as the kunai plunged into his shoulder. She let the shadow bind fall, and he fell to the ground. She rushed over to him and kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

Kiba cracked his knuckles and his neck. The grass ninja made a quick hand seal and exploded into smoke. Six clones rushed out of the smoke with kunai ready. Kiba and Akumaru jumped over top of them and landed were they had just been. They all spoke in unison as they slowly began to circle Kiba.

"Just what do you think you can do against me now?" He said in a cocky tone. Kiba smiled and put his kunai away. He gritted his teeth and made a quick hand seal.

"I'll go wild!" he yelled as his body bulked up slightly. Arms cracked and popped out of place, then got slightly longer. His fingernails shot out into claws and fangs grew from his teeth.

"Beast style Jutsu!" He dropped down to all fours and took off. He rushed the clones at high speed, dashing in and out of them, slashing as he went. He ripped one apart, two, three. They exploded into blades of grass and fell to the ground.

"Shit!" The three remaining clones said in unison as they jumped backwards, all three throwing handfuls of shurikens. Kiba slid close to the ground as most of the shurikens flew over him. He brought a clawed hand up and stabbed through another clone. He shot his other arm over and grabbed one around the neck and held him off of the ground. Akumaru came out of nowhere and ripped out the last one's throat. The one that Kiba held from the ground kicked at him, but he squeezed hard, and the ninja passed out.

Zaku slashed blindly at the strap wrapped around his neck with his kunai and cut it. He leapt backwards out of the poison gas and sucked in a breath of air.

"To close..." He said to himself as he pulled the rest of the strap off of his neck and threw it to the side. Two more straps whipped out of the smoke like tentacles and Zaku ducked one. The other wrapped around his wrist and tried to pull him back in. He braced himself and pulled hard, yanking the grass ninja out of the smoke. He sliced the strap off with his kunai and spin kicked the ninja hard in one clean motion. The gas cleared as the ninja's concentration broke and faded away. He arose and held his arms out, the straps on them whipping around with minds of their own. Zaku pulled a second kunai out and got ready.

"Bring it on freak!" he yelled. The ninja held his arms out and the straps whipped around frantically at high speeds. They lashed violently around, cutting gashes in the ground and in trees. Zaku dodged them and slashed at them when they got close, unable to make much of an offensive. "There has to be some kind of pattern to the attack... something..." he searched the attack pattern of the whips with the Byakugan. He ducked a swipe, and then he saw it, a pattern. One...Two...Three... there, and opening. He waited, ducked another swipe and dashed in. He ran straight up the middle and jumped a low swipe. It was more or less automated; it was to complex for the ninja to control on his own. He ducked another, and reached the ninja.

"You!" the ninja pulled his arms back, but Zaku was already to close. He slashed up with both arms and sliced up both of the ninja's arms. The kunai cut the straps from his arms, as well as cutting his arms badly.

"AAAGGRRAAAHHHH!" He screamed with pain and jumped backwards. He let his arms hang at his sides as the straps fell from them.

"You...I'll kill you..." the ninja pulled a smoke bomb from his belt with pain and threw it down.

"Another time..." He disappeared into the smoke and ran off into the woods. Zaku put both his kunai away and looked towards Kiba who was carrying one of the grass ninja over his shoulder. Ino walked up from his other side, dragging a ninja behind her. They both looked at him, and then threw their ninjas together.

"Geez, and here I thought that you were the strongest of us." Ino said laughing. Zaku looked at her annoyed.

"Yeah well you know..." He started, but Sasuke came walking out of the woods. He had blood splattered on his face and was whipping off with the back of his hand.

"Where is the third?" He asked seriously. Zaku pointed off in the direction that the ninja had ran. "He took off after I cut him up, should we follow him?" Zaku said. Sasuke shook his head. "No, our mission is to deliver the message. Good job everyone." Ino spoke up about the two incapacitated ninja.

"What should we do with them sensei?" Sasuke looked down at the two ninja. He turned and started walking down the path.

"An enemy you let live can attack you again in the future. But unnecessary killing can erode a man's soul. These men attacked you, therefore you have every right to take their lives. Life is full of difficult decisions, whatever one you make, be quick about it, we have a deadline." He kept walking down the path without looking back.

The three stood there over the unconscious bodies of the grass ninja. Zaku looked at them; they couldn't have been more than a few years older than they were.

"They're leader left them behind..." He said absently. Kiba picked both of them up and threw them off the path and into the woods.

"They can come back if they want, I'll tear them up again." He said and walked after Sasuke. Ino nodded and followed after him. Zaku watched them walk away and thought to himself. He walked over to the bushes and slit both of the ninja's throats. He wiped off his kunai and put it away. He trotted to catch up with Kiba and Ino.

The mission was smooth from there; they made their way into the country of tea and delivered the scroll to the feudal lord. They made their way back to Konoha after that. Everyone seemed lighthearted, happy after their first mission. They separated when they got into town, the sun was going down and everyone was going to home and get some sleep. Zaku watched Kiba and Akumaru walk down their road, and then Ino took her way. He was about to head off in his way when he noticed Sasuke watching him.

"Is something the matter sensei?" Zaku asked. Sasuke kept looking at him.

"You're the one who killed the two grass ninja?" he said, already knowing the answer. Zaku didn't know what to say. He was surprised that Sasuke knew, he had been a good ways ahead by the time he had finished off the enemy ninja.

"I...uh...yes..." He said warily. Sasuke started to walk away, and then looked back at him.

"Good... things like this need to be done from time to time, can I count on you to do them for the squad?" He waited for an answer patiently. Zaku thought about it for a second. He was going to have to do the dirty work? It was better that it be him than Kiba or Ino.

"Yeah, if it needs to be done." He said. Sasuke nodded and disappeared into the night.


	3. Powerful New Enemy!

**_Chapter 3:Powerful New Enemy! _**

_**Struggle to Stay Alive!**_

Team three went on more missions as time went by. Three months had passed before Zaku realized it. Most of the missions went smoothly enough that there was little to no resistance. They became a close knit group as they trained together more and more, Sasuke was still a short tempered strict prick of a sensei, but a good one. They quickly made a name for themselves among the other Genin teams; they had yet to fail on a mission, even the ones that they were not accompanied on by Sasuke. They received such a mission one day, Sasuke was off on an important mission and they had proven themselves capable enough to hold their own before. It was direct from Kakashi, and it was in a lot of ways similar to the first mission they had gone on. They were to deliver an information scroll to a lord in waterfall country. There wasn't any resistance expected, but as it always was with this kind of job, there were no grantees. They accepted the mission and were on their way. They left Konoha and walked through the forest until they reached the nearest port. They then took a boat into the islands of waterfall country. Team three arrived just as the sun was setting and decided to stay at a nearby inn.

Zaku awoke the next morning and rolled out of the small bed he was in. He looked around the room, but Ino and Kiba had already left their beds.

"Where the hell is everyone?" he said to himself as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He walked over to the window and looked out. Kiba was standing by the road sleepily as Akumaru was going to the bathroom off to the side.

"Yo! Where's Ino?" Zaku yelled down to him. Kiba looked up and shrugged. Zaku turned away from the window and saw Ino walk into the room, already dressed and ready.

"You ready?" She asked when she saw him. He nodded and grabbed his clothes from the bedside. "Yeah just let me get dressed." It was still fairly early, early enough for them to make good time if they left sometime soon. He got dressed as she waited by the door.

"Is Kiba ready?" He asked as he finished getting ready by putting his forehead protector on. She looked at him like he had just said something stupid.

"Is he ever ready?" She said with her usual playful venom. Zaku laughed and walked over to her. "Lets go, you have the scroll right?" She double checked just to make sure.

"Yeah, I have it." She said and followed him out. They walked downstairs and the elderly man behind the counter wished them a good day since they had paid the previous night.

"Yeah, you have a good one to old man." Zaku said as they walked out. Kiba looked over to them as they came out. He looked like he wasn't even awake yet. If it wasn't for Akumaru, Kiba would be helpless half the time. Zaku looked over at Ino who seemed to have the same thing on her mind as a little smile spread out over her face. They went on their way shortly after, Zaku was walking with his hands in his pockets and thinking about how far they had all come. Ino especially, when they had met she was somewhat reserved. Now she let herself feel comfortable around them most of the time. She had highlighted her hair with purple streaks that suited the jet black on her natural color, and she had started to wear a little bit of make up after Kiba had made fun of her for not being very feminine. She wore dark eye shadow and lipstick and painted her fingernails black. She reminded Zaku of a gothic ninja, which made him laugh every time, but it suited her well enough. She had stopped wearing her red clothes and begun wearing a black version of them as well. Kiba and Akumaru had grown closer since they had first met. They even had techniques that used both of their power now.

"Hey, you look like there's something on your mind." Ino said and snapped Zaku out of his trance. They were walking along the hilly landscape of waterfall country on a dirt path. Up ahead was the huge bridge that connected the two main islands. He looked at her and shook his head.

"No, nothing much, just spaced out." He had come to think of them as good friends, maybe even siblings. But sometimes he thought that Ino was getting the wrong idea. She wasn't bad looking by any means, but Zaku didn't think getting involved with a teammate was a good idea. They got to the enormous bridge and looked out over it.

"Can't even see the other side..." Kiba said to himself. Akumaru barked and sniffed the air. Ino folded her arms and looked at Kiba.

"It's over a mile long, not to mention that it's famous for bad visibility. The fog here is supposed to get thick in the middle all year round." She said. Zaku walked past them and onto the bridge.

"Oh well, can't very well stop now can we?" He said to them. They followed him with a shrug and went on their way. They had made it about half way across when a tall figure came through the mist ahead. He wore a long white robe that hung to the ground and had an old samurai rice hat worn low enough to cover his face. Akumaru sniffed the air and whimpered slightly. Kiba looked down at him with concern. Zaku looked over and Kiba met his gaze. Ino acknowledged them both silently. The man was walking on the other side of the bridge, slowly with his hands hidden in his robes. There was a silence that lasted for a split second. The man exploded into a smoke bomb and it was on.

"Circle around!" Ino yelled and they all pushed back to back and drew their kunai.

"There!" Zaku yelled as the assassin came from above. Zaku pulled a handful of shurikens from his holder and threw them at the man. They tore through him and he exploded into more smoke. "A decoy!" He yelled.

"Akumaru!" Kiba called the dog, and he sniffed the air. He barked twice and Kiba pointed to the side of the bridge.

"There!" He yelled just as the assassin came flying up over the railing. He was wearing an all black leather jumpsuit with two studded straps cris-crossed across his chest and had a metal dial right in the center. He had spiked metal shoulder pads on both shoulders that the straps connected to. He had a leather studded belt with metal hip protectors on each side and metal knee pads and shin guards. His forearms were covered in huge circular gauntlets that looked like a revolver from the front. He wore a metal glove on each hand with blade on each finger like claws. His face was hidden by a metal full face gasmask with porthole like eye holes. He had wild black hair that stuck up on end and looked like it had never been washed. He was at least 6'5" and had abnormally long arms and legs. He was hunched over almost to the point of all fours and was constantly moving and twitching. The assassin cracked his neck several times and laughed from behind his mask.

"Three Genins? All they sent was three Genins?" He laughed again in his seemingly mechanical voice. Zaku gritted his teeth and stared the man down.

"Who are you?" He demanded. But he only got more laughter out of the assassin. Ino and Kiba moved out of the circular formation and into a large half circle that partially surrounded their enemy. "I'm warning you, we are ninja of the hidden leaves; interfere with us at your own risk!" Ino yelled an empty threat. The assassin laughed again and cocked his head to the side.

"You have a strong formation for a Genin team... I will enjoy bathing in your blood!" He screamed and held his left hand up and pointed it at Ino. The gauntlet clicked and spun until a new hole was on the bottom. A steel cable fired out of the hole and wrapped around Ino.

"Shit!" She yelled as she was sent flying to the ground and was restrained. He raised his right hand and the gauntlet spun and clicked to a new hole. He fired a stream of poison gas at Kiba and Akumaru. They jumped backwards out of range and Zaku charged the assassin. He raised his kunai to strike and the assassin held his left arm up again. The gauntlet spun again and he fired a metal spike that Zaku knocked away with his kunai.

"Fast..." The assassin said and pulled back his arm. He swung his bladed hands in a hard swipe that Zaku ducked. He brought the kunai up in an uppercut, but the assassin was agile. He jumped backwards and landed on a hand and swung his feet around, kicking Zaku and sending him flying away.

"Help Ino!" Zaku yelled to Kiba as he caught his balance. "Right!" Kiba yelled back and rushed over to the bound Ino. The assassin held both of his arms out and the right gauntlet spun and clicked into a new hole. He began firing metal spikes at rapid fire, forcing Zaku to stay on the defensive and keep dodging. Kiba pulled at the cable on Ino, but couldn't get it free. He tried to cut it with his kunai, but it was to strong. Akumaru bit at the cable, but had no better luck than Kiba.

Zaku threw a handful of shurikens as the assassin.

"You'll have to do better than that kid!" The assassin raised his gauntlet to block the simple attack, but the shurikens exploded into spoke right before impact.

"What!" The assassin was blinded by the smoke, but his mask let him breathe normally. He leapt upwards out of the smoke, more annoyed than anything.

"I'm gonna rip you apart kid!" He screamed as he cleared the smoke. He looked down at where Zaku had been, but he was gone.

"What!" The assassin was still in mid-air, but didn't see Zaku. "Up here asshole!" the assassin looked up to see Zaku suspended in the air above him.

"Steel Rain Jutsu!" Zaku screamed and threw the kunai he was holding. It exploded into hundreds needles seconds after leaving his hand.

"AAAGGGRRRAAHHH!" The assassin screamed in pain as his gauntlets only blocked a small fraction of the needles. He fell to the ground hard as Zaku landed by Ino and Kiba. The assassin got to his feet, hundreds of needles sticking out of him. He coughed a couple of times and started ripping the needles out.

Zaku and Kiba together managed to pull the cable off of Ino. Her eyes widened as she looked up at them, but she didn't have time to warn them. The assassin was right behind them, swiping at Kiba with one clawed hand and shredding his back. He backhanded Zaku with the other hand sending him rolling to the side like a rag doll. Kiba dropped to his knees in pain and the assassin kicked him away. Ino tried to kick his feet out from under him, but the assassin jumped away. She jumped to her feet and threw her kunai at him, but he smacked it away. He raised his right hand and it clicked into a new place.

"Shadow Bind Jutsu!" Ino's shadow shot out and caught the assassins'. She smiled and held the jutsu in place.

"Got you now, you're not going anywhere." The assassin struggled against the binding technique, but could not move. Zaku got to his feet and pulled out another kunai and walked over to Ino. Kiba got up and winced at the pain in his torn up back. Akumaru barked at him.

"I'm fine boy." Kiba said and made his way over to Ino.

"Good job Ino..." Zaku said as he walked up beside her. She smiled and held her arm up and pointed at the assassin which made him point at her.

"What should we do with him?" She asked. Zaku was about to say something when the assassin laughed.

"What the hell are you laughing about?" Kiba said. The assassin just laughed again, and his gauntlet fired a thin black wire. Ino tried to move, but the shadow bind jutsu bound both the user and the victim. The wire hit her in the chest, and a thousand volts ran into her body.

"AAAAGGGGRRRRAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed as the jutsu broke and she flew backwards.

"Shit!" Zaku yelled and threw his kunai, severing the wire. He dove after her as she fell to the ground, and Kiba rushed the assassin.

"Beast Style Jutsu!" Kiba transformed and slashed at the assassin, but the man blocked with his gauntlet and flipped away.

"How did you do that! How did you attack in the shadow bind?" Kiba yelled. The assassin laughed and cracked his neck again.

"These weapons of mine... they are connected to my central nervous system. I don't need to move to fire them. All I needed was for her to aim my arm." Zaku looked up from the unconscious Ino.

"You... I know who you are..." Kiba looked back at him. "You do? Who is he?" Zaku stood up and pulled out another kunai. "I've heard about this guy before... the man who is half machine..." The assassin laughed and took a bow.

"So, it appears that my reputation precedes me after all." Kiba gritted his teeth.

"I don't care who you are, you're in my way." Kiba said.

"Kiba, watch out, those aren't gauntlets, they are his arms. That's how he shrugged off my steel rain jutsu so easily, his body is heavily modified and he can't feel pain. His name is Mach Granz, the steel assassin." Mach shrugged and laughed again.

"Looks like you got me, but knowing my name doesn't change anything." Kiba threw a small pill to Akumaru. The little dog snapped it out of the air. His fur spiked up and his small body bulked up a little.

"Akumaru, Human Style Jutsu!" The dog exploded into smoke, and turned himself into a duplicate of Kiba. "I'll kick your ass!" Kiba screamed and powered up his chakra. Mach laughed and cracked his neck. "Oh how you _will_ try."

"Double Fang Destroyer Jutsu!" Kiba and Akumaru launched into the air, their bodies engulfing in chakra and rotating at a high speed. They spun through the air like flying drills, making Mach go on the defensive. He jumped overtop of Akumaru, but Kiba slammed into him at full speed. He blocked the powerful shot with his gauntlets, but was sent spinning to the ground. He landed hard, but barley managed to keep his balance. Kiba landed jumped back into an attack immediately. Akumaru came from behind Mach, but the assassin back flipped over him. Kiba and Akumaru narrowly missed each other as they both spun away, and then came back around for Mach. The Assassin grabbed the dial on his chest and turned it. It clicked as he did so and his body shook and convulsed. His muscle mass doubled within seconds and steam shot out of six holes along either side of his spine like jets. Mach braced his feet and stuck both of his arms out to the sides.

Kiba and Akumaru slammed into his hands hard, but the assassin held his ground. The energy drills burned and ground into Mach's hands, but he squeezed and tightened his grip. He broke the attack, and was left holding Kiba and Akumaru by their heads.

"Damn...Strong..." Kiba muttered in pain. Mach slammed them together then threw them away. Akumaru turned back into his dog form as they hit the ground. Zaku jumped away from Ino and charged the steel assassin. He threw a kunai at Mach's feet as he ran.

"Your aim needs work!" Mach said laughing. He looked down at the kunai, and saw it had an exploding scroll attached to it.

"You little shit!" He screamed just as the scroll exploded and engulfed him in fire. A spike flew out of the explosion and through Zaku's head. He exploded into smoke and disappeared. The explosion smoke cleared and Mach stepped out of it.

"A shadow clone?" He said as he clicked his gauntlet into a new position.

"Juken Style!" Zaku palmed Mach in the middle of the back, then again in the side. Mach leapt away and turned to see Zaku in the Juken stance.

"You were behind me...Aaagggrraahhh!" He dropped down to one knee as his body took the damage. "What? You hardly touched me..." He said in surprise. Zaku laughed and switched his footing.

"This is Juken style, the gentle fist. These eyes let me see a great many things, including the chakra flow within living organisms. One can develop a great understanding of chakra this way. This is how the Juken style was developed. I can see the chakra points in your body, and I can control my chakra well enough to send it into your body in bursts. Long story short, I can attack your internal organs with the slightest touch. I don't care how much tough you are, there is no way to train your insides. Oh, and I can see how your little tricks work."

Mach cracked his neck and got up. "Heh, you're surprising for a Genin. I'll make you an offer kid, you give me the scroll and I may just let you live." Zaku smiled and powered more chakra into his hands.

"Like you would do that? For one, I don't believe you. And two, you're an asshole, and you can't beat me." He charged Mach, attacking with his deadly Juken strikes. Mach was no slouch; he dodged the attacks carefully, making sure not to get hit. Zaku began to get frustrated, despite his new muscle mass, Mach was still incredibly fast. "I can't hit him...dammit." Zaku thought to himself. Mach backhanded him with his gauntlet and sent him flying away.

"Dammit... I can't see his eyes... the Byakugan can't help me predict his movements... I haven't mastered the Byakugan yet, so I won't be able to see past his mask, and read the movements of his eyes at the same time." Mach raised his arms and his gauntlets spun to a new slot. "Burn you little shit!" He screamed and dual flamethrowers spewed fire out in streams.

"Die! Die! Die!" Mach yelled as insane laughter flowed from behind his mask. He waved his arms back and forth, igniting the entire section of the bridge. Kiba scrambled to his feet and grabbed Akumaru. He ran over to Ino and scooped her up onto his shoulder and took cover further down the bridge.

"AAAhhhhh Ha ha ha ha ha DIE!" Mach screamed again. Kiba sat Ino and Akumaru down. "Fuck, this guy lost it..." He said as he pulled a little black pill from his pack and bent down next to Akumaru.

"Eat up boy, you'll be fine." He said petting his dog. The little dog sheepishly ate the pill and laid his head back down.

"Give it a minute, I'm gonna help Zaku." He said as he stood and ran back towards the fire. Mach had surrounded himself in fire; this part of the bridge wouldn't last much longer. Zaku had put a big hole in it with that exploding scroll, and now it had been on fire.

"Did I get him?" Mach asked himself as he looked around for Zaku's body. He looked back and forth.

"There? No...There?" He didn't see anyone through the flames. "I know I didn't get you... now come out and play..." Hands shot up through the bridge and grabbed at Mach's ankles. "Below!" He jumped away just in time. Zaku tore his way up through the bridge with and angry look on his face. "Missed him..." He said as he made it through. Mach laughed and cocked his head to the side.

"Smart kid... Almost had me there." He said. Zaku gritted his teeth and resumed his Juken stance. He charged Mach and began to attack him again. Kiba came flying in from overtop of the fire and brought down a clawed swipe at Mach. His claws scratched four long slashes diagonally across the steel assassin's mask. Mach spin kicked him away and he slid over next to Zaku. "Looks like we gotta earn our pay, eh chief?" Kiba said cracking his knuckles. Zaku shook out his hands and got ready. "Is Ino ok?" Kiba nodded and motioned in the direction he had come from.

"I got her away from the fire, Akumaru is with her." he said. Zaku nodded and took off towards Mach. Kiba fell in behind him. Zaku stopped short of Mach and Kiba jumped over him, slashing at the steel assassin. Mach blocked the attack with his gauntlets, but Zaku dashed in from behind Kiba and got a hit in on Mach's stomach. The assassin grunted and hit both of them away. "I can't get a good shot on him; you'll have to distract him." Zaku said. Kiba nodded.

"One distraction, coming up chief." He jumped into the air and powered up his chakra.

"Fang Destroyer Jutsu!" He shot through the air towards Mach and Zaku ran in behind him. Mach drew back his arm and punched the incoming Kiba hard. He was diverted off to the side and slammed hard through the bottom of the bridge. Zaku was left open after Kiba was out of the way. Mach slashed upwards hard, his index claw caught Zaku on the bridge of his nose. The claw slashed diagonally upwards, going between Zaku's eyes and ripping his forehead protector off.

"AAAGGGRRRAAAHHHH!" He screamed as he flew backwards and hit the ground hard. Mach laughed and walked over to the downed Zaku. Zaku raised his head up, blood was spraying out of his forehead and was all over his face. He put his hand up to the cut and blood covered it. Mach kicked him in the side and pain shot through him. He kicked him again and stomped down on his chest. Mach laughed and his gauntlet clicked into a new position.

"Looks like your luck just ran out you little pest." Mach pointed his gauntlet at Zaku's head. Kiba came smashing up through the bridge and punched Mach right in the face. The assassin stumbled back and Kiba kept on the attack. He grabbed Mach's neck with both his hands and they went tumbling to the ground. Zaku concentrated his chakra into his forehead.

"If I can concentrate... maybe I can apply pressure with chakra and stop the bleeding..." Chakra glowed on the cut and the bleeding slowly stopped. Kiba sat on top of Mach, slashing in a frenzy. Mach head butted Kiba and knocked him off. The assassin jumped to his feet, and caught Kiba by the face as he tried to attack again. He raised him off the ground and pummeled him with punches with his free hand. Zaku shakily stood to his feet and got back into his Juken stance. He powered up chakra in his hands and charged. Mach saw the attack coming and compressed the fingers in his free hand into a spike.

"You think you can just run straight at me kid!" Mach said with a laugh. Zaku kept coming, not wavering in his charge. Mach pulled his arm back, and kept Kiba held up in the air. Kiba grabbed Mach's wrist and wrapped his legs around the man's arm.

"What the hell! Get off of me!" Mach yelled. Zaku leapt forward in attack, but Mach shot his arm forward, plunging it deep into Zaku's stomach.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Zaku screamed in pain as the hand spike impaled him. Mach laughed again and cracked his neck. "You lose you little worm!" Zaku looked up and smiled through bloody teeth.

"Got you now" He said, and hit Mach's gauntlet with both hands. The gauntlet exploded into pieces and Zaku fell to the ground. Mach screamed and jumped backwards.

"He let himself get hit so he could get a clean shot at me? What kind of kid is this?" Mach swung his other arm down and brought his knee up hard, hitting Kiba in the middle of his back. Kiba screamed out in pain but didn't let go. Poison gas spewed out of the gauntlet and engulfed Kiba's head. He fell from Mach's arm, coughing and wheezing and hit the ground. Zaku stumbled to his feet, his vision was blurry, but he could see Mach charging him. The assassin pummeled him and slashed him. He knocked Zaku around like a rag doll, never giving him time to recuperate. Zaku could feel his consciousness slowly slipping away as blow after blow rocked him. Mach's remaining gauntlet clicked to a new position, and fired the small wire onto Zaku's chest. Electricity poured into him, convulsing his body and slowly frying him. The wire detached and Mach picked Zaku up by his face.

"I was paid to get the scroll kid; this beating is your fault." He threw Zaku to the ground and kicked him again.

"Heh heh heh, I do love my job... What? I can't move?" He tried hard, but failed to move his body. "What the hell is going on?" He looked to his side, to see Ino with her Shadow Bind Jutsu already activated.

"You little bitch again!" He said, anger filling his voice. She winced and concentrated hard to keep the jutsu up.

"Kiba...Zaku... someone please get up... I can't hold the shadow bind on him for much longer... my chakra is low..." She said as the shadow wavered, then went back to strength. Zaku twitched and rolled over to his side. He coughed up blood and struggled to get up. Kiba was unconscious; the poison had started to make its way through his body. Akumaru sat beside him and whimpered a worried sound. Ino felt the last of her chakra fading away and felt the chances of survival fading with it. Mach struggled to get free; he was burning with rage now. Mach looked back to his front, to see Zaku standing there in the Juken stance.

"Shit! No!" He ripping and pulled at the binding jutsu, but was stuck. Ino felt the last of her strength leaving. "Zaku! Hurry!" Zaku powered up his hands with chakra and unleashed a flurry of punches to Mach's stomach and chest. "Juken! Thirty two hit combo!" Zaku screamed as he hit Mach one last time. Ino's shadow bind broke and she fell down to a knee. Mach stood there, not speaking, only making a horrible choking sound from behind his mask.

"Your insides are nothing but mush now." Zaku said, barely standing. The assassin slowly reached forward, and stabbed Zaku through the shoulder with his thumb.

"AAAGGGRRRAAHHH!" Zaku screamed. "You... you shouldn't be able to move..." He said absently as he dropped down to a knee. He pulled a kunai out and shoved it upwards and deep into Mach's stomach. "Steel Rain Jutsu!" Hundreds of needles exploded out of the assassin's back and shredded his entire mid section. Blood gushed out of his now lifeless body as it hit the ground and Zaku was covered in the spray. He fell backwards to and landed on his back. He coughed up more blood and rolled over to his side. He could feel his injuries were bad, internal bleeding, broken ribs, lots of bruises and cuts. Ino rushed over to him and helped him to his feet. "We have to go; this part of the bridge isn't safe." She slowly walked with him further down the bridge, but it was too late. The bridge collapsed and they where sent falling down into the water with the splintering debris of the bridge.


	4. The Chuunin Exams!

_**Chapter 4: The Chuunin Exams, **_

_**Welcome to the Forest of Death!**_

Zaku slowly opened his eyes. He had a throbbing headache, and his entire body seemed to be sore. He tried to sit up, but his injuries left him to weak to do so. He looked around the room he was in, a hospital.

"What... What happened?" He said absently as he tried to shake off the headache.

"You're back in Konoha now. You were hurt pretty badly." He looked over and saw a nurse looking over at him. She laid a chart she was holding down on the small table in the room. Zaku tried to think, how had he gotten here? "I...We were on a bridge...In waterfall country..." He said trying to piece it together.

"I'm sorry; I don't know the details hun." She said and walked out of the room. He closed his eyes again. Someone opened the door and came in. Zaku opened his eyes to see Sasuke standing by the door. "You're up." He said and walked over to the bed. He sat down in a chair and crossed his arms. Zaku regained a little bit of his composure and managed to sit up.

"What happened? Kiba and Ino... are they ok?" Sasuke nodded.

"Ino is fine, she has some minor electrical burns and her chakra was drained. Not to mention she almost drowned along with you. They don't know about Kiba yet. He was weakened by a large amount of gas entering his body, and it looks like he was beaten pretty badly. Akumaru barely managed to keep him above water until someone came by." Sasuke got a serious expression on his face.

"There's something I want to talk to you about Zaku... A body washed up on shore... The body of a B rank assassin. Ino has already filled everyone in on most of the basics. But I'd like to hear it from you." He said. Zaku told him about how Mach had attacked them on the bridge and about the fight. "He greatly underestimated us, that's the only way we could have beaten him." Zaku said. Sasuke shook his head. "He must have underestimated you, but you were three Genins, against a well known B rank assassin. All of you should be dead right now, regardless of how much he underestimated you." Zaku started to say something, but that was about as close as Sasuke got to a compliment. He wasn't sure what to say. Sasuke stood from the chair and looked at Zaku. "I've put in a recommendation for the three of you to enter the Chuunin exams. The Hokage has already said that you will be accepted, so the paperwork is just a formality. There's one more thing, I haven't told Ino, and Kiba hasn't woken up yet. There was absolutely no reason for a B rank assassin to be hired for that mission. The Hokage is worried that it was a set up. Someone tried to have the three of you killed." Zaku had thought about that when he realized that the assassin was the famous Mach Granz. "Why?" Was all he said. Sasuke shrugged.

"We have developed a name for ourselves as the top Genin team in Konoha. With the Chuunin exams coming up, it is possible that a rival country did this." Zaku wasn't sure he had heard right. "A rival country? Why in the hell would another country care about us being in the Chuunin exams?"

"It is true that the Chuunin exams are held to determine the promotions from a Genin to a Chuunin. But what a lot of people don't know is that it has a much more serious purpose. Wars are terrible things, countless people die needlessly. After many brutal and unforgiving wars, the countries in this area decided that a contest between village representatives would be better. The Chuunin exams provide villages with the opportunity to show off their young ninja. Feudal lords and other future clients watch the final stage of the exam, so the villages with the strongest shinobi get the most missions, thus the most money, and the most power." Zaku nodded.

"So how much time do I have before this Chuunin exam starts?"

"A little over a month. You'll be out of here in a day or two. After that you may want to train some. The Chuunin exams are known for the jump in power levels from Genin to Chuunin, so there is no telling what kind of people will be there." Sasuke left the room and Zaku tried to get some sleep.

Ino visited him the next day; she told him that they had technically failed the mission, so it was their first failure. She was looking forward to the Chuunin exams, and she was training with her father until it was time. Kiba had almost made a full recovery by now, but he had left early anyway to train.

Naruto and Hinata came to see him also and they joked about how many times Naruto had been in that position over the years. He left the hospital and decided to begin his training.

Hinata taught him what she knew about Byakugan and Juken. From what she knew, he could build on it and develop the techniques in his own way. Naruto had already taught him the Shadow Clone Jutsu, and to Naruto's dismay Zaku had took Sasuke up on an offer of intense training. Zaku had always thought of Sasuke as a strict sensei, but he had been nothing compared to how he was in 'intense' training. They went into the deep forests of Konoha, the thick forests that few explored. Days easily blended into nights since little light made it to the ground here. Zaku told Sasuke that the thing that worried him the most was speed. He hadn't been fast enough to hit Mach, and if it weren't for Kiba and Ino, he wouldn't have stood a chance. Sasuke had laughed and told him that he had undergone intense speed training during the Chuunin exams as well. The Byakugan allowed Zaku to perceive his environment at a super slowed down rate, allowing his mind to think at a hyper fast rate, making his reaction time beyond that of any normal person. Although his thoughts worked in a super fast rate, his body couldn't keep up, so even though he perceived the world in super speed, he could not move in super speed. As he pushed himself further and further, he would slowly bridge the gap and gain enormous speed. He took his Juken in a different direction that most Hyuuga did. Most of the time the Juken style was used every second of every fight, a technique that was always on, and provided medium strength energy bursts from the hands. There were no real problems with this, but after holding the Juken for long periods of time, it would be difficult to use powerful shots of it. Zaku decided to use the traditional style of Juken, but more importantly develop a secondary style. He could use the Juken style, and then force his chakra into a highly concentrated state, using an object as a medium. For combat purposes it could be used on a weapon such as a kunai, to create a nearly unblockable blade of chakra extending off of the kunai. His power had nearly doubled by the time the month was up.

Kiba and Ino sat in the lobby of the building for the Chuunin written exam.

"Where the hell is he?" He said impatiently. Akumaru barked in agreement. Ino looked around the room at the eighty some ninja from many different villages.

"Looks like there's a lot of competition..." She said to Kiba. He nodded and looked around at the various ninja. Everyone was eyeing them silently. Word had got out that they had killed the steel assassin. More specifically they had heard that Zaku had killed the steel assassin. The doors to the lobby swung open and Zaku stood in the doorway. "Yo." He said casually as he sat down beside Ino.

"Fashionably late I see..." She said with a small smile. He smiled and shrugged. Kiba looked over to him. "Keep your eyes peeled, we have a few admirers." He motioned to the rest of the room and the numerous looks they kept getting. Zaku nodded and leaned in close.

"Tell me about it. Sasuke sensei said that there is a good chance that Mach was there specifically to kill us." Kiba and Ino were shocked to hear it.

"What? Why the hell would he have been there for us?" Kiba asked. Ino thought for a second. "The exams... we made a name for ourselves and someone was worried about us being the team to beat in the exams." She said nodding.

"Bingo, right on as usual." Zaku said. "Now all we have to do is find out what country did it." Zaku said. Kiba nodded and cracked his knuckles. "I don't like being set up."

"Well look who decided to show up, Mr. Popular himself." Zaku turned to see Jira standing there with his team, Dosu and Ayame. Jira had long black hair and wore his normal long white jacket and black pants. Dosu had a long black jacket with sleeves that hung past his arms and black pants. He had wraps all over his face that he didn't have last time Zaku had seen him. They covered his entire head except for a small area around his right eye and where his forehead protector was. Ayame had a pink kimono with a flower pattern on it and her brown hair was pulled up in a ponytail.

"What do you want Jira?" Ino said with a bit of venom.

"Nothing that you need to worry about, bitch." Ayame scorned with just as much venom. Ino flared her temper, but Kiba pulled her back. Zaku stood up and stared Jira in the eyes.

"I told you once Jira, if you get in my way, I wont hesitate to kill you." Jira smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "From what I hear you rack up quite the body count already Zaku. Does someone have a bloodlust problem?" Ino and Kiba looked up at Zaku questioningly. Zaku gritted his teeth and grabbed Jira by the collar. His Byakugan stare burned deep into Jira and he pushed him away. "Hope I don't see you in the tournament." Jira said and walked away. Dosu and Ayame followed him.

The doors opened and a man in a black trench coat and black bandana on his head walked in.

"I am Ibiki. I will be your proctor for the first stage of the Chuunin examinations." Ibiki led the large group to a classroom were Chuunins and Jounins lined the walls in chairs. The Genins were sat randomly around the room, teammates sitting as far away from each other as possible. The rules were given, you start off with ten points, and if you got caught cheating you lose three points. If you lost all of your points you fail. If any member of a team lost, the entire team loses. The tests were passed out and the exam began.

Zaku took one look at the test and knew that he couldn't answer a single question. He looked around the room without making it to obvious.

"There... got a good one there." He saw someone a couple of rows in front of him scribbling away. "Byakugan!" He thought and his white eyes took effect. He concentrated and looked through the people in front of him and onto the test sheet. "Bingo." He began copying down the answers. He thought to himself, Ino probably knew that they couldn't answer the questions before he did, and Kiba more than likely intended to cheat in the first place. They should be fine. Just then he felt a light poke on his leg. He looked down and saw a finger sticking out of his shadow poking him. He smiled and lightly grazed it with his leg. The finger melted into shadow and the shadow slowly crept up his body in a thin stream. It came off of his arm and went onto the table. An eye slowly arose out of the shadow and started reading his test. He smiled to himself, Ino was slick alright.

Five rows back she held one hand over her eye and calmly copied down Zaku's answers. The ability to teleport parts of her body through shadows was a new trick she had learned, and she was grateful to have it now.

Kiba grinned to himself as Akumaru sat on top of his head and growled the answers he could see to him.

The teams dropped like flies as the test went on. The examiners had eyes like hawks, nailing someone every few minutes.

"Number 51, you fail. That means numbers 67 and 23 fail also." "Numbers 80, 71 and 33, fail." Number 45, fail. Numbers 6 and 18 fail as well." Every time someone failed, their teammates failed as well. Leading to a quite a few angry entrants. The test ended with a final question that challenged the entrants fortitude. After it had concluded, the field of participants had been cut in half.

The remaining Genin squads were then escorted to the highly restricted training area on the other side on Konoha. Otherwise known as the forest of death. Their new instructor went over the rules of this particular exam.

"This is the forest of death, in the middle of it is a tower. You are to make your way to that tower within the five day time limit, but only after you have both the scroll of Earth, and the scroll of Heaven. Each team will start with one or the other, anything goes." The teams received their scrolls secretly, so no other team knew who had which scroll. They were spread out around the forty four gates that surrounded the forest, one team to each gate.

Team three stood waiting outside of their gate. Zaku patted his scroll holder that held the white heaven scroll inside. "I'll hold onto this." He said. Ino and Kiba nodded in agreement. The sealing scroll on the gate burned and fell to the ground.

"Looks like its show time!" Kiba said energetically and Akumaru barked along. They tore off into the forest and the second stage of the Chuunin exams had begun.

They raced along the trees in the near total darkness of the forest of death. Only dim beams of light filtering down from the canopy made anything visible. Every now and then they would pass a clearing were it was lightened. They stopped after they had covered a little distance into the forest. Ino spoke as they jumped along. "It's a long way to the tower, and we have five days to get there. I say we try and knock out a team with a blue earth scroll early on and get to the tower as soon as possible. As time goes on, people are going to get more desperate. Each team needs two scrolls, and only has one, therefore only half of the teams will pass this exam. Not counting people who take more than two to kill of competition, or teams who succumb to the forest." They stopped and Zaku nodded. "Good idea Ino. Kiba, see if Akumaru can smell anyone." Kiba nodded and knelt down beside Akumaru. The little dog sniffed the air a couple of times and barked. "Six people, about ninety meters to the west." Ino looked off in the direction.

"Six? That's two teams, a fight already?" She said. Kiba shook his head. "I'm not sure, but Akumaru says that a couple of them feel strong, real strong." Zaku turned to the west and activated his Byakugan. "Byakugan!" His vision shot out through the thick forest and focused in on ninety meters out. "Got 'em." He said. He saw three ninja from a minor village he did not recognize. They were generically dressed in black clothing and masks. Three other ninja stood on the opposite end of a clearing. They were from the village hidden in the mist. The one on the left was a girl, and dressed in flowing blue robes. She had short white hair and a cold stare. The ninja on the right was at least six and a half feet tall, and had dark grey skin. His eyes were small and beady and he had a long skinny nose. He reminded Zaku of a shark and he wore brown pants and a shirt covered in straps. His forehead protector had been made into a blue bandana. The center ninja and the apparent leader had long pale blue hair. He wore a mesh shirt that only came down to his upper abdomen. His arms were wrapped in purple wrap and black straps. He had a strange black and purple kilt-like garment for pants. His skin was a deep tan and his eyes looked like he was wearing make up. Zaku couldn't tell what they were saying, but only the ninja in the middle spoke. He raised his hand up and the ninjas in black all pulled various weapons out. Tiny beads of water formed in his hand and slowly swirled and grew into a ball of water about the size of a basketball. He closed his hand into a fist and the water shot out in three jets. Each jet hit one of the ninjas in the face and formed a ball of water around their heads. They dropped to their knees and frantically scrapped at their heads. The ninja from the hidden mist just stood there watching as the others slowly drowned to death.

Zaku pulled his vision back and shook his head. "Shit..." He said to himself. Ino and Kiba looked at him questioningly. Zaku shook his head.

"We don't need to go that way, not worth a tough fight right off the bat."

Ino nodded. "Agreed, we pick off the weakest team we can find and save ourselves as much as possible for later." Akumaru barked and Kiba looked over at him. "Speak of the devil... another team, alone... seventy meters to the north east... Akumaru says they feel weak." Zaku smiled and headed off to the north. "Let's go hunting."

The three ninja from the village hidden in the rocks cautiously made their way through the trees. They moved carefully, making sure not to set off any traps. They stopped suddenly and looked around. "You hear that?" one asked. One of the others shook his head and turned to their third member. "Did you hear anything?..." He looked back for his teammate, but the man was gone. "Shit... he's gone..." He turned back towards his other teammate, but now found himself alone. "Shit!... oh shit oh shit..." He pulled out a kunai and put a hand on the pocket he was keeping their scroll in. He looked from side to side nervously. "Where... where... are they?" He started to jump to another branch, but found himself unable to move. Panic shocked through his body as he struggled more and more. A figure descended from the trees above with one of the ninja's unconscious teammates over his shoulder. "This one doesn't have it." Zaku said as he threw the body off of the tree. Kiba jumped over from a nearby tree and threw the body over his shoulder to the ground as well. "This one either." He said. Ino spoke from above the paralyzed ninja. "Must be this one then." She said. Zaku walked up to the ninja and stared him in the eyes. "If you want to live, tell me were the scroll is." The ninja tried to talk, but was too nervous. Kiba stuck his face up to the ninja's and sniffed him.

"Smells like fear chief, stinks of it." He grinned and showed off his k-9's. Ino closed her eyes, and a hand made out of shadow slowly crawled out of the ninja's chest. It reached up and slowly closed its fingers around his throat. The ninja was slowly being choked to death. He choked out as his eyes bulged. "Po...Pocket..." he dropped his gaze down to a pocket on his vest. Zaku reached over and pulled the scroll from the pocket.

"Dammit!" He said as he looked at the white heaven scroll. "Looks like he only has the one we already have." Zaku said with a pissed off look on his face. Kiba growled and cracked his neck. Zaku took one last look at the ninja then turned away. "Kill 'em, he's useless." The shadow hand twisted quickly and snapped the ninja's neck. Ino dropped the shadow bind and let his body fall to the ground. She dropped down onto the branch with the others. Zaku looked at the scroll in his hand and shook his head. "Useless." He said and started to throw it away. Ino stopped him and took the scroll.

"You can never be too careful; it can't hurt to have an extra." She said as she put the scroll away. Zaku nodded. "Alright, let's go." They took off in the direction of the tower at top speed, moving through the trees like the wind. The sun began to set and sent beams of crimson light shooting through the canopy. They moved further and further into the forest with impressive speed, staying hidden the entire time. Akumaru picked up a couple of human scents along the way, not to mention countless predators lurking in the deep forest. They passed everything up and kept moving, their plan was now to wait until darkness and ambush anyone who was dumb enough to take their bait.

Darkness had fallen swiftly in the forest of death. The near pitch black night was quite a thing to see. Zaku sat in a tree apparently dozing off with his headband pulled down over his eyes, and Ino sat close by with her eyes closed. Kiba was a couple of trees away, lying down on a branch. Akumaru sat high in a tree smelling the air. The dog tensed and growled low. Kiba didn't move, but opened one eye. He looked over at Zaku who nodded slightly, using his Byakugan to see through his headband. There was a moment of utter silence, calm and at the same time eerie silence. It was shattered by a horrific screeching roar that exploded through the night. Zaku sprung from his place just as a gigantic snake smashing into the tree and splintered it into a million pieces. Ino jumped at the last second over to Kiba and Akumaru. Zaku flipped backwards and barely caught a branch in time for the snake to fly under him.

"Shit! It's a snake!" He yelled and swung up on the branch. Kiba and Ino jumped from their tree as the snake smashed through it.

"Akumaru tried to tell me but there wasn't time!" He yelled back as they reached another tree. The snake spun back around and faced Zaku. "That thing's head is as big as a fucking house!" Ino screamed. She had never exactly been the feminine type Zaku thought to himself. The snake charged him and he was smashed onto its nose with the force of a semi. He plunged a kunai into its nose and held on for dear life as the snake charged through the forest, smashing into trees and whipping its enormous body around.

"Zaku!" Ino yelled and took off after the giant creature. Kiba raced along behind with Akumaru close in tow.

Zaku felt the wind tearing by him and could hear the monster he was on screeching in bellowing rage. There was only one way to stop this monster... He closed his eyes and let the chakra within him flow freely. He could feel the power building; he reached down to the bottom of his very being and drug up the power. Zaku could feel it burning out of him like a fire within his body. He channeled the energy into all of his body equally, his muscles twitching and bulging. Green electricity and fire erupted from his every pore and slowly swept over him. He gritted his teeth as pain accompanied the new power and rushed through him. Zaku felt the power pulling in from what seemed like and endless pit of energy. A shudder ran through him as he tried to hold back the power, but could feel it not only covering him now, but filling him and saturating his very soul. The giant snake shot straight up into the air, then came flying down towards the ground like a meteor.

"Burning Limit Jutsu!" Zaku screamed at the top of his lungs and his eyes exploded with green light. The snake smashed headfirst into the ground at full speed. Rock debris showered the forest as trees flew from their roots and everything was engulfed in a giant cloud of dust. Kiba and Ino had fallen slightly behind the snake, but the blast knocked them off their feet and sent them falling to the ground. They slammed down hard and both had the wind knocked out of them. Kiba looked up towards the snake and couldn't believe his eyes. "My god..." Ino said absently as she did the same.

Zaku was standing in the deep crater that the snake had made, but his body was covered in green electrical fire and he was nearly twice the muscle size he had been before. His hair was being blown around by the energy, and his eyes were glowing bright green. He held the snake up by its enormous head above his head with both hands and its body was writhing around.

"Take this!" He screamed and drew one hand back, holding the snake up with one arm. He punched the monstrous snake in the nose and sent it sprawling into the forest, taking out trees as it landed. He collapsed to his stomach, unconscious, as the energy dispersed from him. His clothes were torn and dirty and he was covered in cuts. This new power was not without its cons. Kiba and Ino scrambled to their feet and rushed into the crater after Zaku. Ino slid to her knees and grabbed Zaku. "He's hurt... Kiba... what was that?" She said looking up at him. Kiba shook his head in disbelief and didn't say anything.


	5. A Meeting of Enemies!

_**Chapter 5: A Meeting of Enemies New and Old!**_

Daylight broke through the trees as dawn crept into the sky. Ino leaned over Zaku's body and wiped off his forehead with a rag. They were in a small cave that they had found last night and decided to stay in. She shook her head and sighed.

"When did you get so strong?" She said to the unconscious Zaku. Kiba walked in the entrance adjusting his headband. "When he was training with Sasuke sensei I would imagine." He said. Ino looked back down at Zaku and got a concerned look on her face. Kiba gritted his teeth and looked away from them. "I'm going to take another look around." He said and walked out. She bent down slowly to Zaku's face. She moved to softly kiss his cheek, but his hand shot up and put a finger to her mouth.

"What are you doing?" He said as he opened his eyes. She jerked back stood up quickly.

"I uh... I was just checking..." she blushed and ran a hand through her hair as she looked away. He sat up and rubbed his head. "Look Ino... it's not that you uh... It just isn't an option, Understand?" She looked down at her feet and scratched her head.

"I'm sorry... I just thought..." She looked up and him and he walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I want to but... it just can't be like that." He walked past her and looked out into the forest.

"How long was I out? And where is Kiba?" He asked. Her mind was still lingering on being denied. "I... its around ten now, and Kiba is scouting the area to make sure no one can ambush us." She shook her head and packed up the things they had laid out in the cave. Kiba dropped down from a tree and walked up to the cave. He looked back and forth between Ino and Zaku and saw that nothing had happened. The angry look only slightly disappeared from his face and he turned his gaze only to Zaku.

"How did you get that kind of power?" Was the only thing he said.

"When I trained with Sasuke sensei, he taught me many things." Zaku said as he got ready to leave. Kiba snorted and left it at that. They took off towards the tower again through the trees and kept stealthy. They had been traveling for a while before anyone said anything.

"How long?" Zaku said absently to Kiba. Kiba looked back and him and shrugged. "I noticed it maybe three minutes ago." Ino smiled and spoke. "It's been up for five... they aren't exactly the best are they?" Zaku smiled and shrugged. "We've fought worse Genjutsu users. (Genjutsu is the art of illusions.) They stopped and Akumaru sniffed the air. Kiba nodded after he barked. "It's a two person illusion, but a third is with them... Akumaru says he remembers the third scent, but can't remember were from." Zaku nodded and activated his Byakugan. "Byakugan!" He looked around the area, he saw through the illusion easily enough. They were only about seventy meters from the cave they had started from. The illusion they were in had them going in circles around the area in a loop.

"What do you think they're waiting for?" Ino asked. Zaku looked around again.

"Must be waiting for a weak spot... were are you?... there!" He threw a kunai at what looked like a tree, but a scream rang out and the illusion broke suddenly. A grass ninja held his hand up to the kunai stuck in his shoulder.

"How?" He said in a painful voice. Zaku laughed and pointed to his eyes.

"Nothing gets past these eyes buddy." Ino smiled and nodded. "Not to mention you're not exactly a master of your craft." She said venomously. Akumaru barked and Kiba laughed.

"He says he can smell you a mile away."

The ninja grimaced and pulled the kunai out of his shoulder. Hundreds of ninjas identical to him burst out of the forest and attacked. Ino and Kiba pulled kunai out and began slashing their way through the crowd of clones. "They aren't even clones, just simple illusions, they don't have physical form." Ino said as she walked right through one. "Akumaru, sniff out the real one!" Kiba shouted.

Zaku stayed still, waiting. A whip came flying out of the forest from behind him. He moved slightly and grabbed it. He yanked on it and the third ninja came flying out of the trees and landed hard on his face. Zaku turned to him and laughed. "You're not very slick are you?" He dropped the whip that was connected to the ninjas arm and pulled out a kunai. The grass ninja stood and balled his hands into fists.

"You don't remember me!" Zaku thought for a second. "Nope, sorry pal, not a clue who you are." The ninja burned with rage and powered up his chakra. The straps on his arms flew partially off and became numerous living whips. "You killed my teammates and humiliated me!" The enraged grass ninja screamed. Zaku shrugged and smiled.

"Sorry buddy, but that doesn't really narrow it down that much." Zaku said. The ninja charged and his whips flung out frantically. Zaku dodged them with ease, cutting them with his kunai as he did so. The ninja reached him and Zaku jumped backwards, throwing the kunai. It struck the ninja in the neck and he went sprawling to the ground. Zaku landed and looked over to Ino and Kiba. Kiba soccer kicked a downed illusion ninja in the face and knocked him out. Ino pulled back her fist and nailed the other illusion ninja right in the jaw, breaking it and sending him flying away, obviously working out a little frustration. Zaku checked the grass ninja's pockets and found a blue earth scroll. He smiled and held it up.

"Got it right here!" He shouted and waved the scroll to Kiba and Ino. They smiled and nodded. "Looks like we can head for the tower now." Zaku said as he stuck the scroll in his pocket. They took off through the trees, relieved that they had more or less an easy fight.

They were close to the tower now; Zaku could see it just past the next clearing with his Byakugan. They broke into the clearing and could see the tower. They stopped for a split second, long enough for Ino to throw a kunai behind them and kill the giant centipede that had snuck up there. "Good riddance to this damn place." She said as they moved forward.

They reached the doors of the tower and Zaku held up to two scrolls. The doors slowly swung open and the trio walked in. The doors slammed shut behind them and sealed. There was a set of stairs that lead up higher in the tower and they went up. Two teams were already there as they got into the waiting room. The team from the hidden mist where sitting in chairs in the far corner of the room. The other team was from the village hidden in the sand. Their leader was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a baggy red sash over his shoulder. He had huge baggy red pants that looked like he was from Arabia. He wore a black Arabian headdress with a red face mask and fingerless leather gauntlets. The girl on their team had her blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail. She wore baggy blue pants and a black tube top with a small deep blue vest. She reminded Zaku of a belly dancer. The third member of their team was a giant of a man. He had a short brown mohawk and stood almost seven feet tall. He wore no shirt, showing the hundreds of scars that covered his body. He had brown shorts on and his feet and hands were covered in wrap.

Both teams looked at team three as they made their way into the room. Zaku eyed all of them cautiously before sitting down. Ino and Kiba followed and sat down beside him. They sat there for maybe twenty minutes, none of them saying a word. The tension in the air was nearly unbearable. The blue haired leader of the mist team finally stood and walked to the center of the room and sat down. He shot a look at Zaku, then at the leader of the sand team. The sand leader stood and walked over to the center and sat down a couple of chairs away from the mist leader. Zaku stood and did the same, acknowledging the silent challenge as well. He sat down and equal distance from both other leader and cracked his neck.

"It appears that we will be the major players in this upcoming tournament." The mist leader said. The sand leader looked over to him and nodded.

"Indeed it does appear so. I am Raijin of the village hidden in the sand." He said, it came off as a bit more of a challenge than an introduction.

"I am Zaku of the village hidden in the leaves, Konoha. And I intend to win this tournament at all costs." He said without flinching. The sand leader almost snarled, but the mist leader just smiled. "My name is Mako from the village hidden in the mist." He had a soft voice and a calm manor. Zaku thought to himself as he looked over the two other leaders. "These guys are exact opposites… that guy sounds like he chews gravel, on the other hands this guy seems a little light in the loafers." They looked each other over again. Raijin stood and spoke.

"I trust that we will all prove ourselves in blood?" He said. Both Zaku and Mako seemed to understand his hidden meaning.

"I will not hesitate to kill you in this tournament." Zaku said confirming it. Mako nodded and stood as well. "Well then gentlemen, best of luck to you." Mako said before returning to his team. Raijin stopped Zaku from leaving and spoke quietly to him.

"It's a shame that Mach couldn't get the job done." He said, and walked back to his team. A flash of anger tore through Zaku, but he controlled himself. He walked back over to Kiba and Ino. He sat down and spoke without looking at them. "Sand is the country that set us up." He said. Kiba immediately tried to get up, but Zaku stopped him casually.

"Don't, we can get them in the tournament." He said to Kiba. Ino put a hand on Zaku's shoulder and started to speak. He interrupted her, already knowing what she was going to say.

"Yeah, I could feel their power. I think that was the point of all that, so we could judge each other." Kiba looked over at him eagerly. "Well?" He said. Zaku smiled and looked back at him. "Strong… really strong… like nothing we've ever fought before." Ino nodded and looked over at them. "I expected as much." She said.

"These guys are on a whole other level though. I could feel at least power equal to Mach in both of them, and that's not powered up." Zaku said. Kiba looked over at him in disbelief.

"Are you sure? That's insane… why are these guys still Genin?" Ino adjusted her gloves and explained. "Their countries probably held them back in all likelihood." She continued before Kiba could ask her what she was talking about. "The Chuunin exams are a display of power right? So how better to show power than to dominate the tournament?" Kiba nodded looked back over to the other teams.

"Makes sense I guess, Looks like the mist guy is like seventeen or eighteen." Ino nodded and motioned towards the sand team.

"They all look like they are at least a few years older than the average Chuunin exam age of fifteen or sixteen." They heard footsteps from the stairway and team two came walking up, Jira, Dosu and Ayame. Jira frowned when he saw Zaku.

"I see that the exam must not be as hard as everyone thinks." He said with contempt. Zaku nodded and motioned towards him. "Yeah, _you_ made it here after all." Zaku said. Jira gritted his teeth and sat down nearby. Other teams showed up as time went on. A team from the village hidden in the flames showed up next. They looked like they had something to prove, strutting and sneering almost as much as Jira. The next day came and the team from the village hidden in the sounds showed up around noon. They didn't say a word, and weren't injured at all, so they must have just been taking their time. The tower was fairly large, it had numerous bedrooms and eating areas. There were storage areas full of easily kept food, bathrooms, everything a group of people could need to last for five days. Days passed, and on the last day, nearing the cutoff time, the doors to the tower burst open. Aburame Shuno stood in the doorway, holding his teammate Hautso over his shoulder and helping his other teammate Kira walk. She was walking with a bad limp, and Hautso looked unconscious. They went up the stairs and Shuno laid Hautso down in a chair and helped Kira into one.

"We are here." He said calmly from behind his round black glasses and high coat collar.


	6. All the Fighters Are Here!

_**Chapter 6: All the Fighters are Here!**_

_**Preliminary Matches are Set to Go!**_

Finally the time for the second stage of the exam was up. An instructor walked into the room filled with the young ninja and looked around.

"Unfortunately there are twenty one of you…the final stage of the Chuunin exams is a tournament, that only a maximum of sixteen can participate in." Kiba stood up and yelled.

"What the hell does that mean? Some of us can't fight in the tournament?"

The instructor nodded. "That's exactly what it means. I have a list of all of your name's right here, there will be five randomly decided matches, the losers of these matches will be disqualified. The matches will be held immediately." There were some angry mummers among the crowd, but no one had a big problem with it. He looked at his clipboard, and then motioned for everyone to follow him. "We will proceed to the area in the tower." He said. They followed and made their way to the top floor of the tower. It was a huge rectangular room with a giant Buddha statue on the far wall. There were stairs on either side that led to walkways along the long walls. Everyone went up to the walkways and the instructor stood in the middle of the room. He looked down at his clipboard again and called out two names.

"Heiken Hautso… and Shojimaru"

Shuno winced at hearing Hautso's name and looked over at his teammate who had regained consciousness. Hautso nodded and slowly walked down into the fighting area. Everyone looked around for this Shojimaru, no one knew who he was. The enormous shark-man leapt down over the railing and landed hard on his feet. A shock of surprise ran through everyone at the sight of the obvious miss-match.

"Shit…" Zaku said absently. Ino shook her head. "Damn… poor guy." Zaku looked up to the other walkway to see Mako smiling as he watched Shojimaru approach Hautso.

The instructor looked back and forth between the two fighters a couple of times. He shook his head and dropped his arm. "Begin!" He leapt back out of the way and the fight started. Hautso moved immediately, he wasn't very big of a guy, but he was fairly well known for being tricky. "Shadow clone jutsu!" He screamed and he exploded into thirty clones. They charged Shojimaru as they pulled out kunai and held them out. The shark man balled up both of his fists and started smashing the clones with ease. He destroyed the last clone, just as Hautso appeared behind him. He jumped and slashed down with his kunai, but Shojimaru had surprising speed. He spun quickly and grabbed Hautso around his neck. The smaller man's eyes bulged as Shojimaru squeezed, but then his entire body bulged, and he exploded into a flash of light.

"Yeah! Go Hautso!" Kira yelled from beside Shuno who was still quiet, although watching intently. The bright light faded and everyone could see Hautso's plan. Shojimaru was bound in chains that were anchored to the walls and floor. He pulled at them and anger seemed to sweep over his face. Hautso faded out of a stealth mode that he was in. He pulled an unfolding giant shuriken from behind his back and threw it with all his strength at Shojimaru.

"He's done!" Kira screamed. The shuriken tore through the air towards Shojimaru's head. The shark man opened his mouth, exposing multiple rows of shark teeth. His jaw dislocated and his mouth stretched open even further. He chomped down hard and caught the deadly shuriken in his mouth. "What!" the word escaped the mouths of multiple people. He bit down hard, and the shuriken broke off and fell to the ground. He spit the shrapnel in his mouth at Hautso like a bullet, slicing his shoulder open. He held it in pain and dropped to a knee. Shojimaru pulled hard at the chains, his muscles bulging. The chains on his arms broke free of the walls, tearing out a chunk of stone with them. He swung one of the chains hard, sending the stone chunk smashing into the side of Hautso's head. He was sent smashing into the far wall with heavy force. He hit it hard and did not get up. Shojimaru ripped the rest of the chains off of him and threw them to the side. The instructor spoke up before any more damage could be done.

"This match is over! Winner, Shojimaru!" the shark man ignored him and started walking over towards the downed Hautso. Shuno and Kira jumped the railing and put themselves between the two. Kira rushed over to Hautso as the medics came running out. Shuno didn't budge out of the way of the man who dwarfed him. They stood there for a second, neither moving. The instructor appeared between them. "This match up is over, I suggest that all parties return to their places, now." Mako spoke up from his position on the walkway.

"Shojimaru!" The shark man turned and leapt up onto the walkway. The medics took Hautso away and Kira followed them back. Shuno walked back up to his spot quietly.

The instructor raised his clipboard up and read the next two names.

"Agari Ayame, and Yuna" Ayame slowly walked down into the fighting arena. Yuna was the girl on Mako's team. She made her way down to the instructor as Ayame did. Ino commented at the two female fighters got ready. "First that Shojimaru, now Yuna, both from team mist… They have two fights in a row, unlucky." She said. Kiba nodded but didn't say anything else. Zaku had noticed that he hadn't seemed like himself lately.

The fight started in a flurry of movement. Ayame shot six needles from under each of her sleeves, but Yuna shot her hands up, and a wall of ice materialized out of thin air in front of her. The needles stuck into the ice, and a tiny drop of liquid could be seen secreting from each of them. "Poison?" Yuna said. Ayame smiled and more needles came out of her sleeves and she held them between her fingers. The ice wall exploded into droplets of water, and fell to the ground. Yuna leapt into the air and waved her arm, as she did dozens of ice shards formed and flung themselves at Ayame. The poison master threw her needles and blocked each one of the shards. Yuna formed an ice kunai in both of her hands and dashed at Ayame as soon as she hit the ground. Ayame back flipped and threw a ball to the ground. It exploded into thick green smoke and enveloped Yuna. She came flying out of the top of the cloud covering her mouth. She landed and stumbled slightly as she coughed. Ayame laughed and pulled more needles out.

"That is a heavy sedative gas, soon you will fall asleep, and I will kill you. Assuming you don't slow down to much and get hit by my poison needles, which will kill you." Yuna gritted her teeth, but didn't back down. "You're not very observant are you?" She said with a smile. Ayame turned around, and an ice spike had formed behind her.

"Bitch!" she screamed as the spike impaled through her stomach. She screamed, but spun and threw her needles at Yuna. One of them hit her in the shoulder and the others missed. Both of them fell to the ground, Ayame writhing in pain, and Yuna passing out. The instructor stopped the fight. "Both fighters are incapacitated! This fight ends in a draw!"

Everyone waited while the medics helped both of the girls. No one had expected both of them to lose. The instructor didn't take much time to get the fights back on track. He announced the next match up.

"Goji… and Hyuuga Zaku… you two are up next." Zaku was surprised to hear his name. "Heh, guess I have to do a little work." He said and jumped over the railing. Ino and Kiba laughed and cheered him on. Goji was one of the quiet sound ninja. He was wearing a baggy black jumpsuit with black gloves and his forehead protector was a black bandana. He smirked as he jumped the railing and landed. Zaku walked up to the instructor and waited. Goji laughed and flipped him off as he walked up. "Fuck yourself, Konoha bitch." He said. Zaku was caught off guard by the blatant statement. He looked at the instructor, then back at Goji. All of the Konoha ninja in the room seemed to tense up. Some of the ninja from other villages laughed. Raijin laughed the loudest, very much so on purpose.

Zaku thought for a second, than smiled. "Now that wasn't very nice… I'm sorry friend, but I'm gonna' have to take that finger now." He said, still smiling. Goji lost his grin, and spit on Zaku's feet. Zaku stopped smiling too. The instructor jumped backwards and started the match. Zaku was on the sound ninja before he had time to react. He hit him hard in the face over and over with a closed fist. He felt the man's nose break, than threw him across the room. Goji rolled to a stop, sputtering up blood. He got to his feet and rage spilled out over his face in an instant. His nose was definitely broken, the bridge was horribly crooked now and blood poured from it.

"You dirty piece of shit!" He screamed. He raised his hands up and what looked like waves of heat arose off of them. Zaku pulled out a kunai, and readied himself. Goji screamed again, and blasts of sound shot from his hands. Zaku jumped the blast, but the force of it threw him to the other side of the room. The dust cleared and a small crater stood where he had been. He had underestimated this guy, he wasn't much of a fighter, but he had incredible attack power. Goji continued to fire the blasts of pure sound, smashing most of the room to pieces. Two Zakus ran out of the dust and attacked Goji from either side. He held his arms out to the side and fired blasts at both of them. Just as he did, another Zaku burst from the rubble in front of him.

"Gotcha asshole!" Zaku screamed with his kunai held high. Goji laughed and opened his mouth wide. A massive blast erupted from his mouth, engulfing Zaku in a destructive wave of sound. There was a sharp moment of pain in his ears, than no sounds came. The wave slammed him into the giant Buddha statue with enormous force.

"Zaku!" Ino screamed. Goji laughed and started walking towards the statue. The dust cleared and Zaku was deep inside of a crater in the Buddha's stomach. He fell out of it and hit the ground face first. He stood, but lost his balance and almost fell.

"Hard to stand up you arrogant fuck? Your eardrums are blown now, and they help regulate your balance, you're gonna have a hell of a time fighting without any balance." Zaku couldn't hear him, but he got the general idea fairly quickly. He put his hands up to his ears, and found that both of them were bloody.

"Shit…" He thought to himself. It hurt to think, he thought that he might have a concussion as well. Not to mention he might have had a broken rib, slamming into the statue hadn't exactly felt good. He tried to shake off his dizziness, but it didn't help. Goji raised both of his hands and the charka built up quickly. Zaku stumbled and fell down to one knee dizzily. Goji fired the sounds blasts from his hands, than unleashed the one from his mouth as well. Zaku leapt high into the air suddenly, jumping the blast.

"Recall Jutsu!" he screamed and he flew through the air like a bullet. He landed a few feet behind Goji as if there were a powerful magnetic pull on that specific spot that only affected him. Goji was in full sound blast, he had no time to stop it and turn around. Zaku stabbed his kunai backwards and into Goji's back. He screamed as his blasts fizzled out and he fell to the ground with a kunai in his back. Everyone was caught off guard by the surprise technique and numerous people gasped. Goji lay writhing on the ground, trying to reach the weapon jammed in his back, but he could not reach it. He yelled in pain and slammed his hand down on the ground. Zaku leapt over him in a flash, he yanked the kunai out and brought it stabbing down as he landed in one smooth motion. The weapon hit hard, just above the knuckle on Goji's middle finger, severing it. Goji screamed hysterically and yanked his hand back, minus a finger. He rolled around on the ground and screamed at his hand bled. Zaku bent down and picked up the finger. "I told you, this is mine now." He picked up his kunai with his other hand and put it away. The instructor looked over to Goji. "Are you finished?" He said. Goji jumped to his feet, still holding his wounded hand against his stomach. "Fuck you! Fuck you!" He screamed and ran at Zaku in a rage. Zaku threw the finger at him and smiled. "You had your chance, prick" He said as the finger exploded into smoke and turned into a kunai. The weapon struck Goji right in the middle of his neck and went in all the way up to the handle. He fell to the ground with a thud and did not move. The instructor shrugged and pointed towards Zaku.

"Winner, Hyuuga Zaku!" He said as the medics rushed out to take away the body. Zaku looked at the other sound ninja as he made his way over to a medic. They didn't say anything; they didn't even look particularly upset that he had just killed their teammate. He pointed to his ears as he got the attention of the medic. The man nodded and started to escort him to the back. They made it to the door, when the female sound ninja tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back at her and she said something to the medic. The medic looked skeptically at her, then pulled out a piece of paper and wrote on it. He showed it to Zaku.

"She says she can help, but being in the situation we are in, foul play is quite a possibility. It is your call, being a sound ninja she may be able to help faster than I can."

Zaku thought about it for a second, she wasn't bad looking. And she was one of the older ones here, maybe seventeen or eighteen. He nodded and turned to the sound ninja and smiled. She bowed slightly and they went to the back with the medic. She had long black hair that was all slicked back and held in place by her forehead protector that she used as a hair tie. She had a black tube top with a mesh vest over it, and black wristbands. She had tight black pants on, and a baggy sash/belt in a cow pattern that the sound ninja seemed to enjoy for some reason. She held his arm as they walked back, and Ino burned a hole into the back of the girl's head with her gaze. She gritted her teeth and balled her hands into fists. Kiba noticed and his mood quickly deteriorated. Zaku was obviously hitting on that girl, and Ino still preferred him over Kiba. Unknown to them, they were not the only ones frowning upon Zaku. Across the room, Mako curled his lip and ran a hand through his light teal hair. He didn't even hear his name being called until Shojimaru nudged him. He looked up and saw that He had been called. He leapt over the railing and landed smoothly. Mako looked over to the instructor and frowned.

"Every single member of my team has been called for an extra fight, I trust that these are truly random." The instructor nodded. "Yeah, I apologize that your team has been unlucky. But it was in no way setup like this." Mako nodded and didn't press the issue further. His opponent was someone named Apollo. It was obviously not a given name, then again, neither was Mako. The kid might have though he was the god himself though, he strutted and puffed himself up as he slowly walked down the stairs and over to Mako and the instructor. His teammates cheered him on and whooped as he strutted. Every representative from the fire village was vain. The village was brand new from what Mako understood. This was the fire country but Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves, had always been the major village here. Within the last few years, the village hidden in the flames had sprung up and claimed itself the main village in the nation. They produced powerful fighters indeed, and powerful techniques. But Mako looked upon this vain young man with contempt, there was no fire he could start that Mako couldn't put out. Apollo had spiky blonde hair and sideburns that were trimmed with ridiculous care. He had no shirt on, only a leather shoulder pad with a strap. He wore extremely baggy red pants with a white sash/belt that made him look like some kind of exotic prince. Apollo stopped playing to his teammates and turned to Mako. He frowned, then smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Heh, is this all? I am the pride of the fire nation, the chosen leader. And the only thing here to offer me is you? You look like a fag." Mako winced and held himself back from killing Apollo right then. Instead he bowed slightly and smiled his best fake smile.

"A pleasure to meet you." This man may have been a jackass, but Mako still had his manners. Apollo cracked his neck and got into a fighting stance. Mako could feel the power radiating from the fire ninja, impressive. The instructor took a few steps back and raised his hand. "Begin!" He dropped his hand and the fight was on.

Zaku heard a slight ringing in his ears. He was on his knees, and the girl was kneeling down in front of him with her eyes closed and her hands up to his ears. His inner ears vibrated slightly and his hearing slowly came back. She opened her eyes and let her hands fall back to her sides.

"Thank you" He said to her. She smiled, but kept her face close to his.

"You're very welcome." She said in a soft voice. Zaku smiled and noticed he was breathing a little heavily. "They might be tender for a couple of days." She said.

"Uh… oh, my ears… yeah…" She laughed and leaned in a little closer.

"Excuse me, but I think you've done enough." They looked to see Ino standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and a dirty look on her face. Zaku stood up quickly and blushed.

"No problems… I uh…" He started to say, but he sound girl stood up and clung to his arm. "Awww, is that your little sister or something?" She said. Ino's face shattered into a visage of rage. Zaku's blood ran cold. Ino balled her fists up as a vein popped out on her forehead. Zaku pulled himself away from the sound girl and slid a few feet away.

"I uh… well thanks a lot for the help." He said and slid out of the room. Ino and the sound girl stared each other down with laser like stares.

"Back off skank." Ino said through gritted teeth. The sound girl laughed and put her hands on her hips. "He doesn't even know you're alive little girl." She said with smugness.

"What is your concern with him anyway?" Ino said with her guard still up. The sound girl flipped her hair and laughed again. "Don't worry about it little girl, let the adults handle their business." Ino screamed at her. "You're only a few years older than me!" The sound girl walked past her, doing her best to ignore her. Ino noticed a few of the medics looking at her.

"What are you looking at!" They scrambled back to their work as she stomped out of the room.

Zaku watched Mako and Apollo fight from next to Kiba. "Strong guys…" He said. Kiba nodded, but didn't take his eyes off of the fight. "Yeah, they've been at it like this since they started. Apollo was a purely offensive fighter, his hands were engulfed in flames and he was wildly punching at Mako. Mako's hands were surrounded in orbs of water, and he was blocking the fire punches with them. Flurries of punches were extinguished as they dashed around the room, never more than a few feet from each other. They kicked off of walls, fought in mid air for a few seconds at a time, always so fast that they were hard to follow. Mako went into a high looping back flip and Apollo slid to a stop. Mako held his hands out and shards of ice shot from the water orbs. Apollo punched the ground and a swirling vortex of fire surrounded him, knocking the ice shards from their trajectory. Mako hit the ground and slammed his fist down, sending ice spikes shooting up from the ground in a line towards Apollo. The fire ninja jumped the attack and spit a fireball from his mouth. Mako rolled out of the way as the fireball hit like napalm. Apollo made a quick hand sign and held both of his hands out. Flamethrowers shot from his hands and reached all the way across the area. Mako took off running, the fire scorching the walls right behind him. Apollo directed his flamethrowers at Mako as he ran. Mako muttered to himself as he ran, and made a hand seal. Thick mist exploded out from Mako's mouth and quickly filled the entire area.

Zaku squinted into the mist, but couldn't see a thing. "Byakugan!" He activated his white eyes and searched into the mist. "What the hell?" He said absently.

"What is it?" Kiba said, talking to the silhouette that he assumed was Zaku.

"My Byakugan… It can't see through this mist…" Zaku said in alarm. He heard a voice beside him, it was Jira.

"This is the village hidden in the mist's secret technique. It's specially made to cover the area in an impenetrable mist. The user saturates the water molecules in the air with his chakra, expanding them and creating a thick mist."

"Ok, but why can't I see through it?" He heard Jira sigh.

"I'm not surprised that you don't know this, being an outcast from the family and all."

"Cut the crap and just tell me will you?" Zaku said impatiently. Jira spoke again, his arrogant tone still in his voice.

"Our Byakugan can see through just about anything, with the exception of things created specifically to stop it. What that means it that with enough skill, anyone can stop the Byakugan from seeing through something. But it's not easy, the area must be saturated with chakra, or a kind of special seal. So something can't block the Byakugan without meaning to. Understand so far?" Zaku grunted in agreement and Jira continued.

"This hidden mist technique is designed to hide the ninja through near zero visibility, so unfortunately it counts, and stops us from seeing through it."

Apollo shot his gaze back and forth, never leaving his back open for long in one direction. He kept his hands held up, tiny embers floating around in his palms, waiting to fire his flamethrowers again. He heard running, to his left… no, behind. He spun around and cut loose his fire, sending twin jets of flame through the air. The mist dulled his attack, but he cranked up the heat. He could see a figure in the flames and he smiled to himself. The mist became heavy and dropped to the ground like a wave of rain. Everyone could see again suddenly, and Apollo stopped the flamethrowers. The figure was an ice clone of Mako.

"Shit!" Apollo screamed and spun around, looking for the real mist ninja. He didn't see him anywhere. Two hands shot up from the puddle he was standing in and grabbed a hold of his ankles. "Dammit!" He shouted as water came out of the hands, than quickly froze, freezing his legs from the knees down. Apollo screamed again as the freezing was surprisingly painful. The hands melted down into the puddle and disappeared. Mako arose from a puddle on the other side of the room without being the slightest bit wet. Apollo gritted his teeth and tried to ready himself as best he could. Mako held one hand up and a ball of water formed.

"Despite your lack of manors, you are indeed quite the formidable opponent." Mako said as the ball of water grew to the size of a basketball, pulling in moisture from the air.

"I'm honored." Apollo said sarcastically. The ball of water shot from Mako's hand and flew across the room. It hit Apollo in the face, and stayed there, surrounding his head in water. But the man did not panic, he simply stood there. Mako was suspicious at first, then disappointed in himself for underestimating the fire ninja. The ball of water slowly began to bubble, than evaporated. The ice on his legs slowly melted away as steam arose from them.

"So, you can drastically raise your body temperature?" Mako asked. Apollo smiled and kicked the last bit of melting ice off of his foot. "I guess I can." He said.

"I didn't plan on being here all day, shall we?" Mako said bowing slightly. Apollo shrugged and cracked his neck.

"Whatever, if you want to end it so quickly, then I guess I'll have to oblige." He held both of his hands together and held them out in front of him. The butt of his palms touched together and embers began to fall from his hands. Mako put the butts of his palms together as well, and crouched down, drawing his hands back to one side and setting one foot forward. Frost lined the insides of his hands as tiny beads of water slowly started to pull out of the air and into a tiny spinning ball in his hands. Heat arose off of Apollo's hands in waves as a tiny flame flickered to life at the tip of each of his fingers. The spinning ball of water in Mako's hands began to glow a faint blue and grew to the size of a baseball. The fire on Apollo's fingertips slowly spread across his hands until both of his hands were engulfed in flames. The ball of water began to spray tiny jets of water in all directions as it spun, leaving frost everywhere the water touched. Embers began to swirl around in front of Apollo's hands like a vacuum was pulling them in. Chakra was coming off of both of them in waves, the power was enough to make Zaku worry. He looked over to Raijin who was now looking at him as well. They communicated an unspoken message between each other, Apollo was every bit as strong as they were, There were four big powers in this tournament, not three.

"Flame of the Sun God!" Apollo screamed and a shockwave of heat exploded out from his hands and a jet of spiraling flame erupted forth as if from a volcano.

"Arctic Torrent Jutsu!" Mako screamed and he thrust his hands forward and a high pressure jet of glowing blue water shot from his hands like an arctic geyser.

The elemental beams slammed into one another, sending a shockwave ripping through the building and shattering every window. Steam exploded from the impact and filled the room behind the shockwave. The shockwave knocked nearly everyone to the ground as the steam enveloped them. It slowly cleared and besides the two fighters only Zaku, Raijin and the Instructor were left standing. Zaku and Raijin had something to prove, that they were on par with these two, the instructor had been smart enough to shield himself with chakra. Mako was breathing heavily, his clothing had tiny fires all over it, and his skin was streaked with ash. Apollo was covered in frost and was shaking slightly. But the biggest difference between them was that there was a four foot long ice spike sticking out of Apollo's stomach. Streams of blood ran down the spike and his body, staining the frost red. Mako dropped down to one knee and the ice spike melted instantaneously as Apollo fell to his back.

"Winner, Mako!" The instructor said, barely hiding that even he was surprised by the power. Medics rushed into the area with stretchers and already casting healing spells. Zaku was stunned, did Mako and Raijin both think he had that kind of power too? Did he have that kind of power?

The preliminary fights were over, they now had the desired sixteen combatants. After a few minutes of talking amongst each other, the instructor interrupted the young ninja.

"The official Chuunin exam tournament will begin in one month, I suggest that all of you prepare for your fights as best you can, but most importantly, get some rest." The ninja made their way out of the tower, some stayed behind to look after their injured teammates. Raijin eyed Zaku as he walked by, the silent challenge always flashing in his eyes. Zaku nodded and kept walking. Kiba and Ino joined him silently. The Chuunin exams had deteriorated their teamwork greatly so far. Zaku had rejected Ino not once, but twice. First in the cave in the forest of death, and secondly by hitting on the sound ninja girl. Kiba had obvious feelings for Ino, but couldn't bring himself to tell her. The fact that Ino ignored him and always looked at Zaku infuriated him. Zaku had begun to think of his teammates as out of his league, sidekicks who were nice to have around, but mostly just got in the way. This became apparent when they exited the tower.

Many sensei were waiting for their students outside of the tower to escort them back, Sasuke was one of them.

"Well?" He said looking at them. Zaku smiled and put his hands in his pockets.

"Of course, did you even doubt it for a second?" He said casually.

"All of you passed?" He said. Zaku thought about it for a second. "All of… oh, yeah I guess all of us did." He had forgotten all about Kiba and Ino even being there. Sasuke noticed it immediately, Zaku reminded him of himself more every time he saw him. He escorted them out of the forest of death and back into the village.

"The Chuunin exams are the beginning of the rest of your lives." He told them when they had reached their crossroads. They thought about it, and nothing good came to mind for Kiba or Ino. They went their separate ways, and as Zaku walked down an alley, he heard someone behind him. He turned to see Sasuke leaning against a wall.

"If… When you are awarded the rank of Chuunin… You will be able to go on any sort of mission." He said. Zaku wasn't sure what he was talking about, but then it hit him. He had promised Sasuke a while ago that he would do whatever it took to make it. He may have forgotten about Ino and Kiba for a minute, but he had agreed to do the dirty work so they wouldn't have to. He felt obligated to keep their youth intact. That was why he couldn't see Ino the way she wanted him to, and why he treated Kiba like a sidekick, he was only a kid compared to him. Zaku nodded when the thought hit him.

"I understand." He said. Sasuke nodded and smiled.

"There is always one in every group. One willing to do what needs to be done for the village, and for their friends." He disappeared in a flash, his speed never ceased to amaze Zaku.


	7. Maximum Garouga!

**_Chapter 7: Maximum Garouga! _**

_**Old Friend or New Foe?**_

Two days had passed since the preliminary matches. Naruto and Hinata were thrilled that Zaku had made it into the tournament. Naruto said that some of the best times he could remember where fighting in his Chuunin exams. Zaku was just past the Konoha gates, training for the tournament the next day. He was doing push ups in a hand stand in the woods when he heard someone coming. He flipped over to his feet and pulled out a kunai.

"Show yourself!" He yelled. Kiba walked out from behind a tree with Akumaru.

"Oh, it's just you guys." Zaku said as he put his kunai away. Kiba gritted his teeth and balled up his fists. "Yeah, just us."

"Is there something wrong Kiba?" Zaku said, his guard was already back up. Kiba cracked his knuckles and an angry look crossed over his face.

"Zaku… fight me, now." His eyes burned with a rage that had been building for the last couple of days. Zaku thought about it for a second.

"Something on your mind buddy?" He said with a bit of threat in his voice. Kiba snarled as his fingernails extended and his k-9s grew. His muscles bulged and his bone structure popped into its beast style.

"Fight me Zaku!" He screamed and slashed at him. Zaku jumped backwards narrowly avoiding the attack. "Fine Kiba. You've obviously got some problems, but I've wondered about your power level for a while now. I might as well test it." Zaku pulled a kunai back out. Kiba growled at him.

"That's just like you Zaku! You always think that you're better than me, I'll teach you to take me seriously from now on!" He charged Zaku with full force, but Zaku jumped him and landed some distance away.

"Alright Kiba, if you want me to play rough, than I'll play rough. Juken style!" Zaku threw the kunai aside and changed his stance, letting chakra accumulate into his hands. Kiba tore towards Zaku on all fours, and Zaku attacked with his Juken.

High above them, Sasuke and Naruto sat atop the walls of Konoha. "So who do you think has the upper hand, Beast style or Juken style? Considering you've fought both of them." Sasuke asked. Naruto thought about it for a second.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. Juken style is one of the most deadly styles of hand to had combat someone can use. But the Beast style is unpredictable and hard to form a strategy against. With him being so low to the ground, I think that it may be slightly awkward to use the Juken style since it is used best when striking precise points on the body." He said. Sasuke nodded but didn't say anything.

Zaku leapt high into the air and came crashing down at Kiba with his feet engulfed in chakra. Kiba flipped sideways and out of the way. Kiba was already into his next attack by the time Zaku was ready. He narrowly dodged the slashed and kept his guard up.

"I'm faster than him, but his attacks flow together perfectly. It's like he doesn't have to think about it, just runs on pure instinct with that style. It's to risky not to use give it all I have… Byakugan!" He screamed and his 360 view combined with his speed equaled out with Kiba's unpredictable yet flowing style. They fought for ten minutes, both only scoring minor blows.

"Akumaru!" Kiba yelled and the little dog went on the attack. Zaku laughed and swatted the dog away. "Are you joking Kiba? Sending you little dog after me…" He turned back to Kiba, but he was already on him. Kiba jumped and planted his foot on Zaku's chest to get balance and slashed viciously at him. Zaku focused chakra on his chest and quickly pulsed it out, sending Kiba falling backwards. Zaku jumped and kicked Kiba in mid air, sending him flying into a tree. Kiba flipped in the air and kicked off of the tree. He came flying back at Zaku with his arms outstretched. Zaku powered up chakra in his hands, but he saw Akumaru leaping up behind him.

"You're quite the little distraction aren't you?" He jumped straight up above both attacks, but Akumaru hit Kiba's head and kicked off, launching up at Zaku.

"Tricky little!..." Akumaru clamped on to Zaku's forearm hard, much harder than Zaku had expected. He winced in pain as the little dog tore into his arm. Kiba's hand reached up and grabbed Zaku's ankle. He planted his feet and swung Zaku hard towards the ground. Akumaru leapt off and landed on Kiba's shoulder as Zaku crashed into the ground hard. Kiba held his grip tight, and swung Zaku out of the crater on the ground and flying into a tree. Zaku flew through the air and smashed off of the tree. He exploded into a cloud of smoke as he hit.

"A clone!" Kiba spun back towards the crater, to see Zaku crouched down in it. Zaku yelled and thrust both of his palms forward, hitting Kiba hard in the chest and sending a chakra blast into him. Kiba flew away as left blood trailing from his mouth. Akumaru lost his balance as fell as Kiba flew backwards, Zaku soccer kicked him in mid air and sent him flying after Kiba. Kiba hit the tree hard and immediately fell out of his feral form. Akumaru hit him in the chest and fell into his lap.

"You want to know why I act like I'm better than you Kiba? Because I am better than you. I'm the one who has to take the lead. I'm the one who always has to step up, who always has to fight just a little bit harder, to last just a little bit longer. And I've done that, every time, without fail. I've protected you and Ino time and time again, and you're pissed because I know what I'm capable of? When you stop walking one step behind me everywhere we go, then you can step up and question me!" Kiba looked up with surprise in his face. It faded and he gritted his teeth. Anger crossed his face again and he slowly stood up with Akumaru in his arms.

"You're underestimating me Zaku!" He screamed.

"Am I Kiba? Am I underestimating you? I think your bluffing, you've shown me everything you've got Kiba. The only trick you have up your sleeve is the fang destroyer, and I've seen that a hundred times by now!" Kiba sat Akumaru down beside him and powered up his chakra. "Fang Destroyer Jutsu!" He screamed and flew into the air and into the drill like attack. Zaku drew his fist back and focused a large amount of chakra there. He punched hard, hitting Kiba's attack head on creating a mini shockwave and sending him flying off to the side. Zaku was pushed back maybe a foot, but Kiba slammed hard into the ground and bounced like a rag doll. "I told you Kiba, you're no match for me. Once I figured out how to fight your style, you lost your only advantage over me." Kiba struggled to his feet and spit blood out.

"Bullshit Zaku! I've been around you long enough to see through your little mind games!" Kiba powered up into his feral form again. Zaku smiled and cracked his knuckles.

"That's to bad Kiba, the only thing worse than underestimating your enemy, is overestimating yourself!" Zaku rushed him, but Kiba jumped away towards Akumaru. Zaku slid to a stop and turned to face Kiba.

"What are you doing Kiba? Decided to run away?" Kiba flipped a soldier pill to Akumaru and popped one into his mouth as well. The little dog buffed up and growled deep at Zaku. Akumaru jumped up onto Kiba's shoulder.

"You've gotten a lot stronger Zaku. But me and Akumaru, we've gotten a lot stronger too!" Zaku could feel the chakra building from Kiba and Akumaru.

"Akumaru! We have to use our new technique now, you ready!" Kiba screamed and Akumaru barked in acknowledgement. Zaku was surprised by the chakra buildup from them. The soldier pill restored their chakra to maximum, plus gave it a massive temporary boost.

"Maximum Garouga Jutsu!" Kiba screamed as his and Akumaru's bodies turned into light. The two shapes melted together and the light became a blinding glare. Zaku shielded his eyes from the light as the powerful chakra washed over him. The light faded and Zaku could see again. Kiba was no longer there, neither was Akumaru. They had become one, a six and a half foot tall hulking beast. Zaku had trouble believing what was before him, a huge grey werewolf with a spiky main of hair. Kiba tore off his grey hoody that was too small now. He had burst out of his shoes as well, leaving him in only his black shorts.

"Zaaaaaakuuu!" He said in a deep growling voice. "Am I still out of your league Zaku!" Kiba said as a malicious grin spread over his wolven face.

Sasuke cocked his head to the side and Naruto sat there with his mouth hanging open.

"What the hell!" Naruto said in disbelief.

"It's the Garouga Jutsu, only the Inuzuka clan can do it… but normally only higher level clan members have the ability… this kid has pushed himself past his normal boundaries." Naruto stood up and balled up his fist.

"Then we have to stop the fight! This is going too far!" Sasuke grabbed his pant leg and pulled him back down.

"No Naruto, lets see how this pans out before we interfere." Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Someone is going to get hurt Sasuke!"

"They are my students Naruto! I will say when they go too far!" Sasuke screamed back. Naruto backed down, Sasuke only got loud when something was very important to him.

Kiba was attacking Zaku before he had time to react. He backhanded Zaku hard and sent him bouncing off the ground like a rag doll. Kiba mauled Zaku like he was a child. Kicking, punching, slashing him back and forth around the forest, sending him flying straight through a tree and splintering it to pieces.

"Get up Zaku! Fight me! Fight me right now!" Zaku staggered to his feet and wiped the blood from is mouth. "You know Kiba, you are a lot stronger than I gave you credit for… but your still outta' my league!" He screamed as a shockwave of chakra burst out from him and green fiery electricity covered his body.

"RRRRAAGGGHHHHH!" Kiba roared and took off after Zaku.

"Burning Limit Jutsu!" Zaku's body shuttered and he bulked up drastically. Kiba swung hard with a clawed hand, but Zaku raised his arm and caught it.

"Wha!" Kiba said in surprise as Zaku matched his strength. Zaku punched Kiba hard in the stomach and dropped him to his knees. He brought his knee up hard and sent it crashing into Kiba's nose with a loud crunch.

"AAAAGGGGGGRRRRRAAAAAHHHH!" Kiba screamed in pain and rolled away. Zaku cracked his neck and balled up his fists. "I told you Kiba, but you wouldn't listen." Kiba leapt up and smashed into Zaku with his shoulder, sending both of them smashing through a tree. Zaku kicked Kiba off of him and sent him flying through the air. Kiba dug into a tree with his claws and Zaku came jumping up at him. They dashed through the trees fighting, jumping from one tree to another. Kiba bit Zaku in the shoulder and tore at him.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGRRRRRRRRAAAAHHHHH!" Zaku screamed and powered up chakra in his fist and hit Kiba hard in the face. Kiba was sent spiraling to the ground and landed on his feet. Zaku landed about twenty feet away in front of him. He put a hand over the bite mark on his shoulder and winced in pain. Kiba licked his chops and smiled.

"Tastes good Zaku, really good." He said and laughed. Zaku dropped down to one knee and fell out of his powered up form. Kiba was surprised at first, than a grin spread over his face.

"What's the matter Zaku? Is your flashy new form to hard to maintain? Because I can keep this up all day!" Zaku stood back up and got back into his Juken stance. He was breathing heavily and sweat rolled down his face. Kiba started to charge, but out of nowhere Naruto was standing in front of him with one finger to his chest.

"Your done pup, go home." He said. Sasuke was standing in front of Zaku and had a palm to his chest. "Don't even think about it Zaku, he's done, whether he knows it or not." Kiba started to protest, but Naruto pressed his fingers harder against his chest. "I said you're done." Naruto said seriously. Kiba growled, but powered down into his normal self. Akumaru fell off of his shoulder and landed on the ground.

"This is bullshit! You only stopped us because I was winning!" Kiba screamed as Naruto dropped his hand. Sasuke turned to him and yelled. "Don't be stupid Kiba!"

"You're so obsessed with attacking that you didn't even notice the area around you!" Sasuke yelled again. Kiba looked around and saw that every tree around him had an exploding scroll on it. "Wha… What!" He said disbelievingly. Zaku made a hand seal. "Dispel" he said, and the exploding scrolls turned black and fell to the ground. Kiba was speechless as Zaku walked by him. He stopped and said something to him right before he left.

"From now on Kiba, I treat you the same as everyone who gets in my way."

The next day Zaku was sitting on top of the Konoha hospital looking out over the village. Ino came up through the door with bandages in her hands. Zaku turned back and was surprised to see her. "What are you doing here Ino?" He said. She held up the bandages and smiled.

"I came to see you, but the nurse said she couldn't find you, and that your bandages needed changing." Zaku slid off of the ledge and walked over to her.

"Thanks…" He said and reached for the bandages. She pulled them away and smiled.

"I'll do it for you." She said. He reluctantly pulled off his shirt and sat down on what might have been an air conditioner. He had bandages wrapped around his left shoulder. She walked around behind him looked over his body. He had more scars than she had expected.

"All of these… how did you get so many?" She asked. He smiled and looked back at her.

"You have some scars of your own don't you? It comes with the trade I guess. Granted most of mine came from that fight with Mach." She ran a finger along one on his back and sighed. She let her finger wander over to his bandages.

"And Kiba did this?" She said. Zaku nodded but didn't say anything. "Did you give him any back?" She asked. Zaku grinned and scratched his nose.

"I think I broke his nose." He said. Ino shook her head and started unwrapping the bandages. "You two fighting… I just can't imagine it." She finished taking off the bandages and looked at the wound. "That's going to leave a pretty big scar." She started wrapping it up in the new bandages. "Zaku I… you, Kiba, and I have been together for a while now… and I've always thought of Kiba as a brother. But you Zaku, I've always thought of you as…"

"Stop Ino, you don't want to finish that sentence." Ino got in front of him and stared into his eyes. She drew back and slapped him hard.

"I don't care what you think your problems are Zaku! I love you!" That hit him harder than any attack could have. She threw her arms around him and pressed hard against him. Zaku didn't know what to say, he just sat there in silence until something came back to him. What he had said to Kiba the day before. "From now on Kiba, I treat you the same as everyone who gets in my way." He had known about Kiba's infatuation with Ino for a long time now, and it was one of the reasons why he hadn't done anything with Ino. Zaku looked down at her and brought his face down to hers. They kissed long and deep until Zaku drew back. Ino was smiling up at him and ran her hand across his chest.

"Ahem." They turned to see Sasuke standing beside the water tower on the roof.

"I see that you two have given in to your baser emotions…" He said with a slight bit of disappointment in his voice. Zaku stood quickly and pulled Ino up with him.

"I apologize sensei I…" Zaku started. Sasuke stopped him and walked over to them.

"Zaku, I can mold you into what you need to be, but you must listen to every word I say, you must do everything I tell you to do, down to the letter." What did he mean by 'what you need to be?' Zaku thought to himself.

"Ino, it's time for you to leave." Sasuke said with a cold tone. Ino looked at him and frowned.

"Sensei, with all due respect, no, we're busy." She stood up to Sasuke, Ino wasn't the kind of girl to back down very often. Sasuke looked at her very seriously.

"Ino, I have and always will respect your assertiveness, but if you cross me it will be the last thing you ever do." Sasuke said without the slightest bit of bluff in his voice.

"Go on Ino, I'll catch up to you later." Zaku said. Ino flashed Sasuke a dirty look and jumped off the building and made her way across the rooftops.

"Zaku I'll get to the point. I know Zaku, I know that you aren't normal." Zaku's mind raced, what was he talking about?

"Zaku, your eyes can see a great many things, but so can mine." Sasuke's eyes turned red as he activated his Sharingon.

"When I look into your eyes I see something Zaku… I don't know what it is, but I can see that a great many people will come to depend on you, and that is the ultimate reason to seek power. I can help you Zaku, but you will need to become more than just a man, you will need to become much more." Zaku didn't look away even though he wanted to. A dark look spread over Zaku's face as he agreed to it in his mind. "What do I have to become?"


	8. Powerful Fighters!

_**Chapter 8: Powerful Fighters! **_

_**The Tournament Begins!**_

The rest of the month went by quickly for most of the tournament participants. Mako of the mists meditated in waterfalls of his village. Raijin of the sands braved sandstorms and the burning deserts of his village. Kiba was only seen a few times in the village. He had become increasingly aggressive and even seemed to be staying in his feral form most of the time. He trained relentlessly in the woods with Akumaru every day, and even slept in the deep forest much of the time. He had stopped wearing his normal gray hoody. Now he didn't even wear a shirt, just his forehead protector, black wraps on his hands, black shorts and the normal sandals but in black as well. If anyone was seen less than Kiba it was Zaku. He and Sasuke disappeared the day after Ino had seen him at the hospital and no one had heard from them since. Ino was pissed about how Sasuke had treated her, but there really wasn't much she could do. She took out her frustration on training, Kiba and Zaku had surpassed her without her realizing it and she was determined to keep up.

The Chuunin exam tournament, one of the biggest events ever held in Konoha. The village exploded into a colorful display of celebration every year when the Chuunin exam festival came around. People from all countries flocked into the village to see the tournament. The most notable were the feudal lords that were the main reason for the tournament. Whichever country had the best participants in the tournament would impress the feudal lords, who in turn were the ones who hired Shinobi. So whoever was the most impressive got the most work, and their village got the most money, thus the most power.

The arena for the tournament was a unique one. The walls were nearly six stories high and the bleacher seats circled half the upper wall. The arena floor was just dirt with grass growing in patches. A few rows of trees had been planted around the walls in a circle. A doorway on the wall led up a couple flights of stairs to a small room were the participants waited between matches. The room had a large window with no glass in it that looked out over the arena from about half way up the wall. The participants entered the area one at a time to the loud roar of the packed crowd. Hokage Kakashi sat just above the rest of the crowd in his prestige box looking over the fighters.

"Hokage sir, everything is going fine… with the exception of…" His assistant said nervously.

"With the exception of Hyuuga Zaku." Kakashi finished the assistant's sentence.

"Yes sir, He has yet to arrive, if he doesn't show up by the time his match starts we will be forced to disqualify him." The assistant said. Kakashi thought about it for a second, than smiled underneath his mask.

"Many years ago… I personally trained Uchiha Sasuke. In the month between the forest of death and the tournament, I put him through some of the most grueling training sessions his body could stand. We were slightly late for the tournament if memory serves me. Sasuke has taken up that outcast Hyuuga boy as I did for him many years ago. That man has a poetic way of thinking whether he knows it or not. I don't doubt that he is doing the exact same thing." Kakashi said in his usual cryptic way.

The participants made their way up to the waiting room and awaited the announcements of the fights. No one said very much to each other as they all waited in the room. Ino couldn't even bring herself to look at Kiba. He didn't seem like the same person anymore. He didn't carry himself the same, his usual fun loving and hardheaded attitude was gone. He had let his hair grow out into a spiky brown mane of wild hair, and he had started to grow scraggily sideburns. She hardly even recognized him like that and with his new clothes.

"I wonder where _he_ is?" Mako said. Shojimaru shook his head and shrugged, he was never much of one for words. Raijin was on the other side of the room, looking out on the arena, but thinking the same thing.

"Ladies and gentlemen if I may have you attention please!" A jounin judge walked out into the center of the arena with a microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen we are now ready to start the Chuunin exam tournament!" The crowd erupted into applause and many people arose to their feet. Naruto and Hinata sat together cheering, Sakura sat next to Naruto and cheered along with them.

"I hope Sasuke and Zaku get here, soon, who knows when his match will be." Hinata said. Sakura looked over to her and smiled.

"Don't worry Hinata, I'm sure that Sasuke will bring him here on time." Naruto frowned and crossed his arms like a little kid.

"Stupid Sasuke, always wanting all of the attention." Hinata nudged him and he quieted down.

"The first match up that has been randomly decided for the Chuunin exams is as follows! First, representing the village hidden in the sand, Bukomaru!" The giant man on Raijin's team leapt out of the window and slammed hard to the ground. He stood and walked over to the judge.

"And his opponent, from right here in Konoha, Kinata Dosu!" Dosu slowly walked down the stairs and made his way out into the arena. The crowd cheered, but the obvious size difference created some worry.

Ino crossed her arms and looked down at them. "That guy is huge…" She looked over to Jira who was on Dosu's team. "Does he have a chance?" She asked. Jira grinned and shook his head. "No… that big son of a bitch is dead." He said. Ino was surprised, and she wasn't the only one. Raijin looked over at Jira and snarled.

"You must be dumber than you look Hyuuga scum." He said. Jira flashed him a dirty look. "If you think that your big brute will even so much as scratch Dosu, then you're in for a big surprise, sand bitch."

"The last time I saw Dosu do anything was in the academy, and just sat in the back and got straight A's." Ino interrupted. Jira got a grim look on his face.

"Dosu is much stronger than you could imagine…" He said absently.

Bukomaru punched the ground hard and ripped up a huge column of stone. He hefted it over his shoulder like a club and cracked his neck. Dosu didn't move as Bukomaru lifted the giant stone club and swung it hard. The crowd gasped as the club smashed into Dosu with deadly force. But as the club passed, Dosu was gone. Suddenly he was running up the side of the giant club with his baggy sleeves reaching forward. Snakes shot out of his sleeves as he leapt off of the club and over top of Bukomaru. The snakes shot out, biting the giant man in the neck several times before returning to Dosu's sleeves. Dosu landed behind Bukomaru silently, and the giant man fell without a word as the powerful poison coursed through his body.

No one said a word at first, they were all shocked. But then the crowd exploded into cheers at the skillful display. Dosu made his way back up to the waiting room as the Judge announced the next match.

"From our own Konoha, Rock Kira! And from the village hidden in the sound, Orichi!"

Kira leapt down from the window and Orichi followed behind her. She dressed much like her father, the famous Rock Lee, a simple green jumpsuit, but had her hair up in two balls. Orichi wore a black cloak that covered his entire body with a hood, and a cow patterned scarf around his mouth. They made their way to the center of the arena and the judge started the fight. Kira was obviously the better fighter, she had immense physical prowess like her father. Unfortunately she also was unable to perform any jutsu. Orichi made a hand seal as he narrowly evaded her powerful attacks. Suddenly she dropped to the ground and began screaming. She held her ears and rolled around on the ground in immense pain. He laughed and put his hands in his pockets.

"You have a very powerful body there don't you? I don't care how strong you are, no one is able to fight with a deafening screech in their ears. You see I am a manipulator of sounds, and while no one else can hear what is causing you so much pain, to you it must sound like jet engine is right next to your ear. And of course I'll continue regulating the pressure and strengthening your ear drum so it cannot blow out, what fun would that be?" Kira desperately thrust a punch up at Orichi, but he caught it in his hand.

"Oh my, it seems that you've lost most of your strength because of the pain, that's a shame. Because you see, I can simply send sound waves into your arm here at a rapid pace, vibrating it to the point of breaking the bone." He tensed is arm slightly, and Kira screamed as her arm shattered.

"I can do that with any of my strikes, just so you know. Making getting hit by me a very unpleasant experience." Orichi said as he kicked her in the side and she went flying away. When she didn't get up, the judge assumed that she had passed out from the pain.

"Winner, Orichi!" He said into his microphone and the crowd cheered.

"The next match up will be…. Teelo from the village in the flames! And from the village hidden in the sands, Raijin!" Raijin was wearing the same baggy red pants and black sleeveless shirt as before. Along with the red sash across his chest, his fingerless leather gauntlets and his black Arabian headdress with the red face mask. But now he also wore a long black sleeveless trench coat with red outlines and red symbols on the back. He was the darkest skinned person at the tournament, he was of Arabic origin, but had made his way to this part of the world as a child. He leapt down from the window and landed, then made his way over to the judge. Teelo came walking down the stairs. He had pockets and bags all over his clothes, and a big backpack on his back. His hair was short and red and stuck up on end, and he wore brown pants and a black vest with no shirt and goggles pulled down over his eyes. He had wrap on his hands, but had what looked like thimbles on his middle fingers and thumbs.

"Okay fighters, begin!" The judge said and jumped backwards away from them. Raijin just stood there, staring into Teelo's eyes. Teelo was already a little jumpy, but Raijin got under his skin. "Stop staring at me!" Teelo screamed as he quickly pulled a small black bomb from a pocket and snapped his fingers together, creating a spark and lighting the bomb. He threw it and jumped back as the bomb exploded in a fiery ball.

Up in the waiting room, the belly dancer girl laughed.

"Looks like the fool let Raijin get under his skin already." Ino looked over at her and wondered how she fought. Not very big, no weapons, probably some kind of indirect fighter, same as her. She nodded and made a mental note, she was going to be ready for anything. Dosu was sitting in a corner meditating, not even watching the fight, when Kiba approached him.

"That was some impressive power you showed out there." He said. Dosu didn't look up, but he spoke anyway.

"The only true power comes in that form, swift death." Kiba smiled and leaned against the wall. "I like the sound of that bub, I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." He said with his dark toothy grin. Dosu looked up at him and he could see he was smiling behind his mask of wrappings.

The smoke cleared and a wall of stone stood between Raijin and Teelo. Teelo gritted his teeth and pulled two sticks of dynamite from his pants pockets.

"Here I go!" He screamed and lit them. He leapt up over top of the wall, but saw that Raijin was not there. "What the hell!" Teelo landed and looked around, no Raijin. The dynamite fuses were getting shorter and Teelo got nervous again. Two jets of sand shot up from the ground and encircled Teelo's wrists so he could not move them. The wall of stone exploded into sand, and quickly created a dome around Teelo that than turned to stone. Raijin burst out of the ground about ten feet away from the dome and brushed dirt off of his coat.

"You're not even worth my time." He said as he turned to walk away. Screams could be heard from the panicking Teelo inside of the dome, he couldn't put out the fuses with his hands restrained, and he knew that inside every pocket he had was an explosive. Several more layers of rock burst up from the ground and reinforced the dome. The explosion was nothing more than a thud from outside of the thick stone dome. When Raijin dropped the dome, only smoke and ashes were left inside.

"Winner, Raijin!" the crowd loved it and went nuts for the sand ninja. Raijin jumped, and jets of sand burst from the ground, and lifted him back up to the window and he jumped in. Mako smiled and thought to himself. Now he was positive that he wanted to fight Raijin.

The judge made his way back to the center of the arena and read off the next to names.

"Next up, from the village hidden in the flames, Hakuro!" Hakuro was a well built guy with white pants with flames on the bottoms. He had no shoes on and had wraps on his hands. His hair was pulled back in a long braided black ponytail, and he looked more like someone from street fighter than a ninja.

"And from right here in Konoha, Hyuuga Zaku!" The crowd roared as they heard the name that most of them had come here to see. Word of the Genin who killed the Steel Assassin Mach Granz had spread like wildfire and Zaku had become the tournament dark horse. Hyuuga Jira was said to be one of the best in Konoha, as well as Aburame Shuno. Mako of the mists and Raijin of the sands were said to be the best from other countries. Apollo of the flames was also in that category, but he was already out. No one had heard of the outcast Hyuuga named Zaku until the incident with Mach, so now everyone was crazy with anticipation.

"But Zaku isn't here yet…" Ino said absently. Kiba gritted his teeth and balled up his fists at Zaku's name. He didn't care about the tournament, he wanted revenge.

For a minute everyone kept cheering, but it slowly died down as everyone started to wonder where Zaku was. "Is he even here?" "Maybe he ran away?" "Is he injured or something?" Speculation washed over the crowd as the Judge looked nervously back and forth.

"If he aint here than I win by default!" Haruko screamed at the judge. A single leaf slowly floated down into the arena and caught everyone's eye. It was the symbol of Konoha, and it had seemingly fallen out of the sky. Hundreds of leaves followed it, than soon started to spin into a tornado of leaves. They got so thick it created a pure green tornado, than they exploded into a million cherry blossoms, and Zaku and Sasuke could be seen standing back to back where the tornado had been. It almost seemed like it was raining cherry blossoms and they crowd roared with cheers at the display.

"Sorry I'm late." Zaku said to the Judge. "Uh… no problem." The judge said. Sasuke disappeared and reappeared in the seat next to Sakura.

"What took you?" She said casually. "I little bit of last minute training." Sasuke replied. Naruto shattered the dramatic moment by screaming at Sasuke.

"What the hell do you think you doing Sasuke! You're so dramatic you…" His screams were lost in the cheers of the crowd as the fight began to start.


	9. The Tournament Heats Up!

_**Chapter 9:The Tournament Heats up!**_

_**Jinchuuriki Revealed!**_

"So you are the worthless Hyuuga I've heard so much about?" Haruko said as he cracked his knuckles. Zaku was dressed like he had always been, but now had metal bracelets and anklets on. He frowned and looked at Haruko.

"Worthless Hyuuga? That name means nothing to me, I am Zaku of Konoha." Haruko powered up his Chakra and his body radiated heat. His skin turned to a dark red and waves of visible heat rolled off of him. The ground around his feet smoldered and he laughed aloud.

Zaku looked over him casually. "A rapid increase in your body temperature? Let me guess, you're a Taijutsu user? You increase your body heat to extreme temperatures, than fight in nothing but hand to hand combat." Zaku said. Haruko raised his fists.

"You're astute, but I think you'll find that this is a very difficult style to fight." Haruko charged him and unleashed a flurry of attacks. Zaku dodged them easily, but he could feel the immense heat from the attacks. He jumped backwards and put some distance between himself and Haruko. Zaku concentrated, and a thin layer of green energy surrounded his body. Haruko jumped at him and brought down a hard elbow. Zaku caught the attack with a hand and punched Haruko hard in the stomach. The flame ninja fell to his knees and Zaku kicked him in the face and sent him flying away. "You're nothing more than a gimmick, and not even a good one." Zaku said as Haruko struggled to his feet. "How can you withstand such heat…?" He choked out. "You said it yourself, I happen to be of Hyuuga blood. I may not share their clansman ship but I do share the abilities that come with this blood. Hyuuga are masters of energy control, and I have taken advantage of that. Juken is a style that adds chakra to melee attacks and making them almost unblock able. I have altered that so that the inverse is also true; my chakra is added into my defenses and makes me nearly invulnerable. Maybe my next match won't be such a disappointment." Zaku said as he closed the gap between him and Haruko in a matter of seconds. He backhanded the flame ninja hard and sent him flying away like a rag doll and smashing into a tree. Haruko was knocked unconscious, and his heat body jutsu faded quickly.

"Winner, Hyuuga Zaku of Konoha!" Zaku let the energy dissipate from his body and made his way to the waiting room as the crowd stood and cheered. He could hear the judge over the loud speakers announcing the next match up.

"From the village hidden in the sounds, Reiku! And from Konoha, Aburame Shuno!" Zaku walked up the stairs and Shuno walked past him.

"Shuno." Zaku said in acknowledgement. "Zaku." Shuno said back. They recognized each others increase in power since the last time they had met. They passed each other after the small acknowledgement. Reiku came walking behind Shuno, Zaku noticed that she was the sound girl from the preliminaries.

"Well well well, so we meet again." She said. He walked by her without stopping.

"I guess we do." He said as he kept going. She stopped and turned around to watch him walk away with and angry expression. "Whatever…" She said and made her way down to the arena. Zaku walked into the waiting room and everyone turned their heads.

"Zaku!" Ino said happily as he walked in. "Good to see you again." Zaku said as she embraced him. She kissed him and smiled. He smiled at her and kissed her again, it had been a while. Mostly of Sasuke telling him not to get sidetracked by things like this, oh well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kiba staring at him. He turned and looked at his former friend, but what disturbed him more was the way Dosu was looking at him from behind Kiba. It was like his one eye was a portal to hell, drawing him in.

"Zaku…" Kiba said with a snarl, breaking the trance. Zaku and Ino being together looked like it were going to make him sick. "Kiba, I can see that you're still clinging desperately to your pride." Zaku said with scorn. Kiba winced and gritted his teeth.

"It won't be the same as last time Zaku, I promise you that." Kiba said as he balled his fists up. "Victory in his last match means that he will fight me next mutt, wherever you are in this tournament, he will not make it to you." Raijin interrupted. Zaku turned to him surprised.

"I have to fight you so soon? Good, I need a warm up." He said with a smile. Raijin narrowed his eyes and didn't say anything.

"The fight is starting." Mako said casually from across the room. Everyone looked down to see Shuno and Reiku squaring off.

Shuno stood silently behind his high collar and round black sunglasses, watching Reiku's every move. She pulled out a flute and began to play an enchanting melody. The world melted and swirled before Shuno's eyes, then turned into vast nothingness.

"Illusions?" He said to him self as she disappeared. Laughter came from the swirling darkness around him as she spoke.

"No one has ever heard my songs and lived bug master, can you?" More arrogant laughter. Shuno waited for his moment, it wouldn't be long now until…

"What! What the hell, how did you!" The illusion faded and the music stopped. Shuno turned to see Reiku covered in small black bugs.

"These are the Aburame clan's special insect, these bugs absorb chakra like sponges, in a few seconds you'll have none left." Reiku screamed with rage and disgust as she tried to wipe the bugs off but couldn't. "How did you do this!" She yelled. Shuno calmly explained to her, as was his way. "You manipulate the sound coming out of that special flute to create illusions right? I'm sorry, but most bugs don't have ears. All I had to do was give the simple command to attack, and they saw right through it, even if I could not." Reiku still struggled with the bugs as her chakra was drained from her.

Raijin looked on from in the waiting room trying to figure out what had happened.

"I could understand if he summoned them, but he didn't, so where in the hell did those bugs come from?" Zaku answered him the best he could.

"From birth the Aburame clan makes themselves host to the chakra bugs. The bugs live inside of their body and feed off of their chakra, in return the host commands the bugs like a living attack method."

"That's disgusting." Raijin said. Ino nodded in agreement. "Yeah…"

The last bit of Reiku's chakra was drained, and the bugs swarmed off of her and flew back to Shuno. "Give up now, you have no chakra left and you don't appear to be a weapon master, so you can only perform limited Taijutsu. Against me that is nothing, so you're done." Shuno said. Reiku flipped him off and screamed profanities at him.

"I tried to be nice." He said. Black clouds of bugs swarmed out of his sleeves and engulfed her, seconds later, the match was over.

"Winner, Aburame Shuno!" the judge exclaimed.

Shuno came back up to the waiting room while the judge got ready to read off the next two names.

"Mako of the village hidden in the mists, and from here in Konoha, Hyuuga Jira of the Hyuuga head family!" The crowd stood on their feet and cheered at the two names. Two of the top contenders going at it in the first round got their blood pumping. News of the Mako and Apollo fight had spread quickly and many people were disappointed that no one had been able to see it. Jira crossed his arms and arrogantly laughed.

"It's about damn time. I've been looking forward to knocking some of you peons out of the clouds your in." He laughed and jumped down out of the window. Mako ran a hand through his hair and made his way towards the stairs.

"Best of luck." Zaku said to him as he walked by.

"Thank you, but you wish someone from an opposing village luck before your own clansman?" Mako said. Zaku smiled and shrugged.

"I've never had much use for high and mighty Jira." Zaku said. Mako smiled.

"Ah, I understand." He went down the stairs towards his match.

Ino looked around the room at the people who hadn't fought yet.

"That only leaves me, Kiba, that big guy Shojimaru, and you." She motioned towards the girl from the sand village that looked like a belly dancer.

"My name is Ariana" She said in a Middle Eastern accent. Ino bowed her head slightly and thought about who she wanted to fight. She didn't want to fight Kiba. It wasn't that she didn't think she could win, she had fought along side of Kiba and Zaku for a long time, and she knew she could outsmart him. It was just that he seemed unstable now, and there was no telling if he was going to snap. Shojimaru had already shown that his raw power was frightening to say the least. Ino knew nothing about this Ariana, so she was as much of a toss up as the other two.

Jira and Mako stared each other down in the ring as the cheering of the crowd slowly built. "It appears as if these people are greatly anticipating your death." Mako said casually. Jira smirked at him cracked his neck.

"The only death here will be yours, faggot of the mist." He said arrogantly. Mako's mouth slowly turned into a frown.

"You foreign ninja do seem to enjoy your bigotry." Mako said. Jira raised and eyebrow.

"So it is true? Well good then, I suppose that I have another reason to kill you." Jira got into the Juken stance and powered up his chakra.

"You wouldn't be the first to try." Mako nearly growled out. Water formed in his hands and froze into two big ice shards. He held them like daggers and got ready. Jira dashed in, hitting Mako in the stomach with a flurry of Juken strikes. Mako didn't flinch as Jira struck him close to twenty times.

"That's to bad, is that all you can muster?" Mako said like it was a pathetic attempt.

"What!" Jira jumped back, a little surprised. "You withstood Juken?" He said disbelievingly. "Byakugan! Juken finishing technique, one hundred and sixty four strikes!" Jira combined his Byakugan and Juken and turned into a blur of movement as he dashed all around Mako, hitting all of the one hundred and sixty four chakra points with a needle like Juken attack. The crowd exploded when they saw the Hyuuga family's signature finishing technique. Jira jumped back and smiled.

"I've closed all of your one hundred and sixty four chakra points with Juken. If you try to force it, you could permanently damage yourself; I suggest you give up now." Mako didn't say anything for a second, than he started to laugh.

"What? Why are you laughing?" Jira screamed at him. Mako raised his head and looked at Jira. He raised one hand and formed a ball of water.

"Looks like my Chakra is fine." Jira couldn't believe his eyes, what he was seeing was physically impossible.

"You're a fool if I know how your style works better than you do." Mako said. Jira looked down at his hands in disbelief. "But… The Juken can't be blocked…"

"The Juken style is indeed a powerful technique, but none of your clan has ever fought someone like me. The human body is made up of approximately sixty percent water, when you attacked with your Juken, I turned my internal organs into one hundred percent water, and thus your chakra went right through me without hitting anything." The technique was truly amazing, one of a kind. "But… But to alter the very composition of your body? And to do it to all of your chakra points at once? The sheer chakra usage…" Mako smiled and cracked his neck.

"Like I said, none of you have ever fought someone like me before." Mako dashed forward and slashed across Jira's chest with one of the ice spikes. Jira stumbled backwards and dodged the next few slashes. He got his composure back quickly and tried to kick Mako's feet out from under him, he wasn't known as the Hyuuga genius for nothing. He pulled two double sided Kunai out and clashed weapons with Mako. Mako was good, but Jira was the better melee fighter. Mako jumped backwards and threw his ice spikes, they exploded into shards, but Jira spun and let the chakra flow off of him, creating a dome of protective chakra and blocking the shards. Mako formed two balls of water in his hands and shot hundreds of razor thin disks of water out at Jira. Jira used the flowing movements of the Juken style and dodged in and out of the razor disks. One nicked him and cleanly cut the skin on his arm like a razor. "Bastard." Jira said. Mako focused on the water balls in his hands and they extended out like whips made out of water. He whipped one out and it stretched to Jira and slashed him across his forearms. Mako went on the attack and lashed the water whips out in vicious slashes. Jira dodged the attacks as he had dodged the disks, but he would eventually get tired and fall a split second behind. He threw both of the double kunai to give himself the few seconds he needed. Mako dodged the kunai and got ready to attack again. Jira powered up chakra in his hands and pointed his index fingers out. "This is a custom alteration to the Juken style, the Juken Rapid Fire Jutsu!" Bullets of chakra shot from all of his fingertips like machineguns. Mako's water whips disintegrated as he was hit by the flurry of chakra. Mako stumbled backwards and winced in pain, but quickly threw his hands forwards and a wall of ice shot up between him and Jira. The machinegun-like chakra tore into the wall and quickly broke it down to nothing. "Where did you go!" Jira screamed as he realized that Mako was not behind the wall.

"Byakugan!" His eyes took effect, just in time for him to narrowly dodge Mako's hands coming out of a puddle behind him. He jumped up and fired his rapid fire jutsu into the puddle, but Mako's hands withdrew. "You can't hide from these eyes!" Jira screamed. He shot into the trees and the hidden Mako was blasted back into the wall of the arena. He exploded into water and five of him reformed. They quickly spread out through the trees and came at Jira from all sides. He laughed and spun into his Juken shield Jutsu, destroying all of the water clones on impact. The real Mako caught his balance and flipped backwards, skidding to a stop. "You're powerful indeed Hyuuga, but I have much more waiting to be unleashed that you could hope to withstand." Mako said. He sat down in the dirt and crossed his legs. He closed his eyes and began chanting. Mako made a series of hand seals and water slowly formed around him. The water formed into a sphere around Mako and lifted him up off of the ground.

"This is my water shield Jutsu, I am invincible in here, and you might as well give up now." Mako said. Jira laughed and powered up his chakra.

"For someone who likes to think he is so smart, you're pretty fucking stupid. Juken is made to break through things like that; your basic mistake will cost you your life." Mako made a complex hand seal and screamed. "Death Rain Jutsu!" Dark clouds quickly began to form over the arena. Shimmers of excitement ran through the crowd as this already stunning fight was about to get even more amazing.

"So how much stronger do you think they are than us at that age?" Naruto said as he watched on. Sasuke looked at him, then back to the match.

"Well a lot stronger than you were anyway." He said, barely hiding his smirk. Naruto began yelling at him as Sakura and Hinata laughed.

Jira looked up at the sky and back to Mako. "If you think some rain is going to distract me, than you're sadly mistaken. Juken Rapid Fire Jutsu!" He started to unleash a barrage of chakra onto Mako, when the first rain drop fell. It glowed blue for a split second, than froze instantly into a foot long shard of ice. "Shit…" was the only thing Jira could say as millions of rain drops transformed into deadly projectiles above him. From the stands the rain was beautiful, a shimmering blue light illuminated the drops as they transformed. Jira fired his rapid fire jutsu straight up into the sky, the chakra bullets smashing any ice shards they came in contact with. But the rapid fire jutsu wasn't a precision attack, and he could only hit so many shards. He spun into his chakra shield and the ice rain shattered over the spinning dome of energy. The field was covered in ice shards like a giant pin cushion as the rain kept falling. Some trees were ripped apart by the deadly rain and slowly turned to splinters. The shards hit Mako's water shield, but the shield turned to ice in the spot it was going to be hit in right before impact.

"This water shield jutsu wasn't to protect me from you; it was to protect me from me." Mako said calmly as Jira struggled to keep up. He had to drop the chakra shield because it burned too much power and was meant to be used in bursts, not as a permanent defense.

"Ultimate Juken, One Hundred and Sixty Four Strikes!" Jira destroyed the ice shards coming at him in a blur of Juken attacks. "This is bad… I won't be able to keep this up much longer; my chakra is running low… How much chakra does this freak have?" Jira thought to himself as he destroyed more of the shards. His speed fell back to normal and he began just punching the shards away with Juken. He struggled to keep up, barely dodged and hit them away. He caught one and threw it at another coming at him, shattering them both. Jira threw waves of shurikens until he ran out, destroying many of the shards, but only giving himself more time. One hit him in the shoulder and another in the left arm. He threw an exploding scroll straight up and it detonated into a ball of fire that blocked all of the shards around him for a few seconds. He tried to get to Mako, but it was impossible with this kind of attack.

Apollo sat in the crowd watching the match. He had quickly recovered from his fight with Mako because of his Bijuu. "Does it never end? This chakra is so seemingly infinite without releasing the Bijuu?" He shook his head and continued to watch the match.

Jira screamed and knocked more away as more hit him. He was covered in bloody shards now, but still he continued to fight them off. He grabbed another out of the air, but than the rain of death slowly stopped. Jira dropped down to a knee and was breathing heavily. He had never fought someone like this, pain was surging through him. But if the rain had stopped, than Mako must have finally been out of chakra, and he still had a chance. He stood and turned to were Mako was, but found he was not there. The ice shard in his hand violently transformed into a ball of ice spikes and pierced his hand in numerous places.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed in pain and fell down to his knees. His Byakugan stopped working; he was all out of chakra now. Dozens of the ice spikes that were stuck in the ground melted instantaneously and formed a spear. More melted and formed a body. The watery body slowly turned into Mako and he grabbed the ice spear. He slowly made his way over to Jira and held the spear to his throat. "I'm giving you a chance to live Hyuuga, give up and walk away. Or die."

Raijin looked on and nodded. "He is truly worthy of the title of Jinchuuriki…" Zaku looked over at him. "He is impressive to say the least, but what is a Jinchuuriki?" Raijin shot him a look and laughed. "Perhaps we are not on the same level, you and I. I did not sense your Bijuu, but I thought that it was weak, or perhaps you controlled it very well. But to think that you don't even know what a Jinchuuriki is, than I suppose that you also have never heard of a Bijuu?" Zaku shook is head, it didn't sound familiar.

"There are said to be certain types of Demons, the Bijuu, that have immense destructive power. They have near infinite chakra wells to draw from, and it is said that they are immortal. These Demons have so much power that they cannot even live on this plane of existence for long. Long ago, a man from an unknown village tried to fight off a Bijuu so it would not hurt his people. But the only way he could stop it was by sealing it inside of his companion. But in order to seal such a terrible power, the man's life was required as a sacrifice. The companion got immense power as a side effect, and the demon lived within him for a long time. More Bijuu were stopped in this way in time, and soon the hosts who were known as the Jinchuuriki became things of war, the ultimate power to be used as a weapon. After hundreds of years of fighting and destruction, these exams were created to decided power in order to avoid so many casualties. The first Jinchuuriki could not live with the sins he had committed and killed himself. His Bijuu was released and just so happened to attack this village. its name was Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox."

Zaku couldn't believe it; he knew what Raijin was talking about now. "So… Naruto?" Raijin nodded his head. "The man called Uzumaki Naruto had this Bijuu sealed within him when he was only a child by the fourth Hokage of this village." Raijin finished.

"And you?" Zaku asked. "I indeed have a Bijuu, Shukaku. It was within Gaara of the sands in his youth. But he devised a way to extract it from his body, because he was not interested in the eternal life it granted. It was bestowed upon me at birth by my village's Kazekage, Gaara himself."

(The Kage is the leader and most powerful Shinobi in a village. Each village calls their Kage something different. Hokage, Kazikage, Hoshikage, etc.)

"But if powers such as these can be harnessed, how is anyone still alive in this world?" Zaku asked. Raijin shook his head.

"You misunderstand, There are only six Bijuu in existence. All of which are inside of a Jinchuuriki because if there were a loose Bijuu, everyone would know about it. Myself, Mako, and the man from before, the one named Apollo are all Jinchuuriki. Uzumaki Naruto is the fourth, as for the other two I do not know. I assumed you were one, but it appears as if I were mistaken." Zaku thought about it for a second.

"Why would you assume such a thing about me?" Zaku asked. Raijin looked at him seriously. "I know for a fact that someone other than Uzumaki Naruto in your village is a Jinchuuriki, and you appear to be the strongest."

Zaku felt the tinge of paranoia grip him. He felt no demonic presence within him, so who was it? The look in Dosu's eye had given him chills, maybe he was the one? Even though Jira was losing his fight, he had proven to be much tougher than Zaku had imagined. What of Kiba? He had changed so drastically over the past month that Zaku wouldn't have been surprised if something had awakened in him. Then again, Shuno was a powerful Shinobi who hardly even had to move to kill you. It seemed as though everyone could be a suspect.

Mako said it again. "I'm telling you one last time, quit or die." Jira spit on Mako's feet.

"I would rather die than give up." He said.

"I believe that this fight is over now." The judge interrupted them. "I am ruling in the favor of Mako. No death is necessary here." He turned and announced it to the crowd.

"The winner is Mako!" The crowd roared approval, but the large Hyuuga family looked on with disgust. Mako slowly made his way back up to the waiting room, Jira had surprised him with his strength, but Mako only had to partially tap into this Bijuu. Jira walked off into a room that led him out of the arena without looking back.


	10. High Stakes Battles Begin!

_**Chapter 10:High Stakes Battles Begin!**_

_**Clash of Powerful Enemies!**_

"Ariana of the village hidden in the sand, and another shinobi from here in Konoha, Nara Ino!" Ino looked up from eavesdropping on Zaku and Raijin's conversation. Zaku looked at her and smiled. "Be careful Ino, and good luck." She nodded and cleared her mind. She was normally a pretty fun loving person, easy going unless you really pissed her off. But she was in her special mind set now, she had learned to shut herself off, to focus on nothing but her objective. Her father was the infamous strategist Nara Shikamaru, and he had trained her personally and taught her this method. She stood there for a second with her eyes closed, and Zaku knew what she was doing. He smiled and gave her space. Even though she was far from the strongest fighter here, Ino could topple titans with her strategies. Ariana had walked down into the arena and was waiting. Ino opened her eyes and nodded. She leapt out of the window and made her way to the center of the arena. The judge looked back and forth between the two.

"Okay, you ready? Begin!" He said and quickly backed off.

Ariana pulled a kunai out and got ready. Ino smiled and pulled out a kunai of her own. This Ariana wasn't stupid, Ino could tell. Neither of them had an obvious fighting style, nor had either of them fought in the preliminaries, so it was hard to tell who could do what. They attacked, both of them striking at each other in melee combat with their kunai. Ino swept at her feet, but Ariana jumped it and back flipped, throwing a handful of shurikens. Ino knocked them away with her kunai. Ariana threw down a smoke bomb out of her pocket and black smoke engulfed the area. Ino jumped backwards and threw a kunai with an exploding scroll into the smoke. She jumped away as the scroll exploded and cleared the smoke. Ariana came falling from above and threw her kunai at Ino. It hit her in the top of the head, and she exploded into smoke.

"A clone?" Ariana said as she landed. There was a faint sound behind her, she turned and flipped away just as a shadow swiped were hers had just been. "So you show your true style!" Ariana said as she landed. Ino Smiled from across the arena and let her shadow shrink back to her. "A near miss." She said and shook out her hands. Ariana pulled a scroll from behind her back. "I guess that since we're not playing around anymore, I can begin." She flung the scroll open and spun it around her like a ribbon. She bit the end of her thumb and smeared her blood across the long scroll and slammed it down onto the ground.

"A summon scroll?" Ino said, this could be bad.

Symbols and writing spread out from were Ariana's hand hit the ground and formed a circle around her. The ground around her exploded into a wave of smoke. Ino braced herself and looked into the smoke; summons could be a big problem depending on what they were. The smoke cleared and three giant figures were standing there. They were identical, all of them were nine feet tall and had their heads totally wrapped. They had unhooked straight jackets on and baggy black pants with no shoes. Ino smiled to herself and powered up her chakra. Summons were otherworldly creatures, normally demons, who were pulled from their realms by scrolls or jutsu. Blood was needed to summon a demon regardless, but the most powerful summons required a blood contract, and could not be controlled by scrolls. The summons ran at her flailing like giant mad men.

"Shadow Bind Jutsu!" Ino yelled and her shadow lanced out into three spikes. She easily caught the summons in her jutsu and held them. They stopped for a moment, and then slowly started to power out of it.

"What! Such raw power…. Against three of them I doubt I can hold them in place for long. It would be a waste of chakra to try…"

"This is why I picked these particular summons, no dominate skills, but they have immense physical power." Ariana yelled to Ino.

"Well than I guess that it's a good thing that I've nearly mastered the shadow style jutsu." Ino said as she made a hand seal.

"What? I've heard that the shadow style is one of the most difficult styles of jutsu in the entire world to use, let alone master." Ariana said to herself. "Some spend their whole lives trying and can never master it, and she is trying to say she has come close at her age?"

Ino held her arms out straight and opened up her hands. She faced her palms up and the shadows beneath the summons slowly began to swirl and grow. Shadow tentacles came out of the shadows and slowly wrapped around the summons. "Shadow Crush Jutsu!" She closed her hands into fists and the tentacles tensed for a second, than crushed the summons easily. They exploded into smoke as they were destroyed and Ariana gritted her teeth.

"You… You tricked me into underestimating you. I used up a lot of chakra to summon them…"

"I know, that was the point." Ino said smiling. Ariana reached for another scroll, and found that she could not move. "What! When did you!" She looked down and saw that a tiny line of shadow was stretching out behind Ino and across the arena and connecting to her shadow. Ino slowly walked towards Ariana, and Ariana was forced to walk towards Ino.

"I've caught you in my jutsu now; you're like a little fly in my web." She grinned devilishly and cracked her neck. Ino could be quite dark when she needed to be. Ariana gulped and tried to break from the shadow binding. "You don't have a hope to get free little fly." She laughed as tentacles slowly arose from the shadows as they got closer to one another. Ariana frantically struggled and tried to get away, to do something, but she could not. They stopped about five feet from one another and the tentacles slowly began to tighten. Ino held her hands up and the tentacles tensed.

"I give up!" Ariana screamed at the last second. The crowd who had been sitting silently waiting for the outcome broke their silence with some cheers, and some disappointment at no real fighting.

Ino sighed as the judged announced her victory and she let the jutsu fall. She smiled to herself, sometimes fear was as effective a weapon as any blade. Not to mention she didn't have to exert herself much.

Zaku laughed and shook his head. He couldn't believe that she had won that easily. She got up to the room and was grinning from ear to ear. Kiba clenched his fist and started towards the stairs, it had to be his turn next. Zaku watched him walked out and wondered how much stronger he had gotten.

"It was easier than I thought." Ino said smiling. Zaku laughed and shrugged.

"You'll have that sometimes I guess." He said.

The judge announced that the next match was to be the last of the first round. "The last two participants are Kiba of Konoha, and Shojimaru of the mist!" Shojimaru snapped to attention as his name was called, it was almost as if he had been sleeping with is eyes open before. He looked around for Kiba, but saw that he was already in the arena. He walked down to the stairs and slowly seemed to be waking up. Mako walked over to the window and looked out.

"So, from what I hear you and Kiba are on the same team, but I'm guessing from the way you two acted that you're not the best of teammates?" Zaku looked over to him and nodded.

"Yeah, you could say that we have our differences, but it's not like Kiba is a monster or anything." Mako nodded and watched Shojimaru make his way into the center.

"That's too bad, the best way to fight a monster, is with a monster of your own."

Kiba looked Shojimaru in his beady eyes. Kiba cracked his knuckles and grinned. Akumaru growled at Shojimaru and the fur on his back raised. The judge started the fight and headed to the side of the arena, he wanted nothing to do with this. Shojimaru looked down at Kiba and opened his mouth enough to show his rows of razor sharp teeth.

"I'm going to rip you apart little mutt." Shojimaru said in a deep watery voice. Kiba growled and gritted his teeth. His chakra began to climb and he began to shake.

"You're pissing me off guppy, and people get hurt when I get pissed off!" Kiba punched Shojimaru in the face as hard as he could, but the shark man did not flinch.

"It takes more than that to slow me down you little shit!" Shojimaru swung hard but Kiba ducked the swipe. He ran up his much larger opponent's body and back flipped off of his chest and threw a kunai in mid air. It bounced off of Shojimaru's chest with no effect.

"Shit!" Kiba said to himself at the failed attack. "Akumaru!" He commanded and the dog leapt into the air. Shojimaru tried to grab him, but Akumaru was just out of his reach. The dog let a stream of urine jet into Shojimaru's eyes as he flew over him, blinding and enraging him.

"AAAAGGRRRAAAHHHHH!" He screamed as he scratched at his burning eyes.

"Beast style jutsu!" Kiba powered up his claws and viciously slashed at Shojimaru's stomach. He furiously attacked Shojimaru, but to no effect. His clothes were ripped, but his skin was like steel. Kiba jumped backwards and screamed in frustration. "Akumaru! Maximum Garouga Jutsu!" The dog and Kiba fused together in a flash of light and Kiba stood in his six and a half foot tall were-wolf form.

"Come on!" He screamed and hit himself in the chest. Shojimaru dashed out at him and they grappled. Shojimaru wrenched Kiba's hands back and slowly started to over power him. Kiba screamed and kicked Shojimaru in the stomach and threw him to the side. He landed on his hands and knees and Kiba jumped onto his back. Kiba tore into Shojimaru's shoulder with his teeth and viciously thrashed it around. Shojimaru brought an elbow back hard and sent Kiba flying off of him. The shark man got to his feet and looked down at his shoulder with a surprised face. Kiba licked the blood off of his mouth and grinned. "You're not so tough guppy." He said in his deep growling voice. Shojimaru smashed into him and they tumbled into a tree, smashing it to pieces. He grabbed the fallen tree trunk and hefted it like a giant club. Kiba got to his feet and was smashed by the tree and sent flying across the arena. The crowd cheered for the knock down drag out fight. Kiba caught a hand on the ground and skidded himself to a stop. Shojimaru charged him with the tree swinging. Kiba caught the tree and flipped Shojimaru through the air. The man shark let go in the air and fell straight down onto Kiba. He landed on him hard and pinned him to the ground. His arms moved like pistons punching Kiba brutally and pounding him into the ground. Kiba bit one of Shojimaru's fists as it came down and savagely tore at it.

"AAAAAGGRRRRAAAHHHHH!" Shojimaru pulled his fist back and rolled off of Kiba. Kiba leapt to his feet quickly and shook the blood off of his face. He jumped and landed on Shojimaru's chest, slashing brutally at his face and jumping back off. Shojimaru grabbed Kiba around the neck and pushed him back to the wall. He smashed his head into the wall and chunks of concrete came crumbling out. Kiba reached out and put his hands around Shojimaru's neck and started choking him. Shojimaru smashed Kiba's head into the wall again and Kiba started to lose his grip around his neck. Shojimaru screamed at the top of his lungs and tried to smash Kiba's head into the wall again. Kiba let loose a primal roar of pure fury and twisted his hands powerfully. He heard a sickening snap and Shojimaru's heavy body fell limp. Kiba pushed him off of him and stood up. He stepped on top of Shojimaru's body and howled loudly. The crowd exploded into cheers and Kiba howled again. Adrenaline rushed through him and he raised his fist and howled a third time.

"Winner, Inuzuka Kiba!" The judge announced and Kiba fell back into his normal form. Akumaru formed beside him and started barking along with the crowd. Kiba was covered in blood and with his clothes he looked like some kind of cage fighter. "Yeah! Yeah!" Kiba yelled and pumped up the crowd. They couldn't tell from so far away, but there was a look in Kiba's eyes, a look that showed something new in him. He could feel the blood on his body and it was covering him in the sweet aroma of death. A blood lust that he had never before felt was growing within him. He didn't even notice that he had gone back to feral form instead of normal after the fight, it just felt normal now.

Zaku looked down at Kiba walking back to the waiting room. Kiba was certainly different now; Zaku could see it in the way he walked.

"This means that I have to fight him now." Ino said absently. Zaku looked over at her, and then nodded. It hit him all at once why Sasuke had told him not to bother with things like relationships. He was worried about her, had was thinking of how savage Kiba had become. Could Ino beat him? If she could, would she come out of it uninjured? If she won, either Shuno or Mako would be her next opponent. There was no way out of this without a hard fight. And he had to fight Raijin in the next round, here he was worrying about Ino, and he was facing probably the toughest fight he had even had. What was worse was that he didn't even know how Raijin fought, the best he could do was assume he fought like Gaara, and it was a bad idea to assume. They took a short intermission for the audience to do whatever they needed, and for the Shinobi to rest and get ready for their next matches. The judge came back out and held a clipboard up.

"Ladies and gentlemen I have here the matches for the next round! Starting off we will have Orichi from the sound village, versus Kinata Dosu from Konoha! Than we have our own Hyuuga Zaku versus Raijin of the sands! After that we have another great match up in Aburame Shuno from Konoha, and Mako of the village hidden in the mists! And finally, to end the second round we have two fighters from Konoha, Nara Ino and Inuzuka Kiba! These two are teammates ladies and gentlemen!"

The crowd cheered at the announcement of all of the fights. So far this Chuunin exam had far surpassed previous exams, and the best fights were yet to come.

"Let's begin the first match up!" The judge announced, and Orichi and Dosu went down to the arena.

Dosu cracked his neck and spoke. "If you don't mind, I'm going to make this quick." Orichi gritted his teeth and powered up his chakra.

"If you think I'm a pushover, you're in for a nasty surprise." Orichi said. Dosu shrugged and charged straight at the sound ninja. Orichi made a hand seal and performed his piercing sound jutsu. Dosu didn't even flinch, as if the horrible screeching in his ears didn't even bother him. "What!" Orichi held his hands out and fired a blast of sound. Dosu leapt high above the attack and held his hand out. Snakes stretched out of his sleeves and bit Orichi in the shoulder than retracted back inside of Dosu's sleeves. Dosu landed behind Orichi who tried to turn around, but fell to the ground convulsing before he could do anything.

Ino raised and eyebrow as she watched. "The exact same attack as before?" Zaku nodded and looked on. "Yeah…" He said absently, his eyes showed him something about the attack that none of the other fighters could see.

"The winner is Kinata Dosu, in his second win under a minute!" Dosu made his way back up to the waiting room. Zaku looked at him as he walked by and smirked. Dosu's eye widened for a second, than he quickly calmed down.

"Now for our next match up, Hyuuga Zaku and Raijin!" Zaku snapped back to what was going on, it was his turn. Raijin looked over at him.

"It is time Zaku of Konoha, you're really going to wish you were a Jinchuuriki." He said as he leapt out the window. Zaku followed him out and spoke as they walked towards the center.

"I draw my power from other sources, demon-host." Raijin looked back at him and laughed. "And that is why you are going to die." He said in a more cheerful tone than he should have. Zaku smiled and shrugged it off; Raijin could play mind games all he wanted.

The judge backed off when they got there. Zaku got into the Juken stance and powered his chakra. Raijin cracked his neck and his knuckles. "Let's get this started then." He said. The ground beneath them cracked and rumbled as Raijin's eyes rolled back in his head. He made a hand seal and started mumbling. "Gaia Manipulation Jutsu!" Chunks of the ground arose into the air and Raijin flew up to the top of the stadium on a piece. He yelled and threw his hands forwards, the pieces of ground all came flying at Zaku. Zaku leapt onto one, flipping off of it and jumping to another. Raijin moved his hands around and the huge pieces of ground started swirling and smashing into each other violently. Zaku dashed from one to another, climbing higher and higher. Two of the pieces collided as he landed on one of them and broke to pieces.

"Shit!" He flipped backwards and landed on another one.

Zaku jumped and threw a kunai at the piece Raijin was standing on. It stuck in the bottom and Raijin laughed at him. "To bad Konoha!" Zaku smiled and jumped to the ground. Raijin realized his mistake a second to late as the exploding scroll attached to the kunai detonated. He went spiraling to the ground amongst the rubble upside down. "Stop the games Zaku! Fight me with something worth my time and cut it out with the kid's stuff!" Raijin yelled as he fell. He righted himself and landed on his feet easily.

"I'll make you show me something good, it's either that, or die!" All of the chunks came spiraling down in a rapid decent towards Zaku. Zaku gritted his teeth and powered up his chakra.

"I wanted to hold back for as long was possible, but I guess that I have to take this fight seriously now!" Zaku held his right arm out and grabbed his forearm with his left hand. Green electricity surged off of his right hand and smoky green energy started to swirl around his arm.

"Juken Style! Vorpal Blade Jutsu!" the energy turned into a swirling blade of green electrical energy. "You wanted the good stuff, here it is buddy!" He screamed as he charged at Raijin. The chunks of rock came crashing down at him in a flurry of destruction. The giant pieces of earth were slashed to pieces within seconds and Zaku came flying out of the debris. Raijin laughed and hit the ground; spikes of stone came ripping out of the ground. Zaku slashed them apart and didn't slow down. Jets of sand sent Raijin flying away and out of reach.

"Dammit come back here!" Zaku screamed as Raijin flew away. He hit the buttons on the bracelets and anklets he was wearing, sending them flying off and smashing into the ground like heavy weights.

Naruto looked over at Sasuke and frowned. "How much do those little things weigh Sasuke!" Sasuke smiled and looked over at him.

"Well we started with the normal ten pound versions, but he kept making me increase the chakra density." Sakura looked over at him and asked.

"Just how much did you stop at Sasuke?" Sasuke looked back at the match and smiled again. "A hundred a piece." He said casually.

"What!" They all said together.


	11. Zaku VS Raijin!

_**Chapter 11: Zaku V.S. Raijin!**_

_**The Wrath of Hidden Powers!**_

Zaku tore towards Raijin at unbelievable speed and left a trail of dust behind him.

"Shit, weights you bastard!" Raijin said and he made a hand seal. Whips of sand came tearing out of the ground like sand blasters and coming at Zaku. He slashed them away without a second thought and came at Raijin like a beast. "Take this you son of a bitch!" Zaku plunged the blade into Raijin's stomach and tore it sideways, cutting him in half. Raijin exploded into sand and fell away. "Byakugan!" Zaku screamed as hundreds of Raijins came out of the ground. They all had a stone spike in their hands and attacked Zaku. He dashed back and forth in a flurry of attacks, ripping all of them apart. "They all have chakra flows! This must be because of Shukaku…" Zaku said to himself as he slashed two more of them apart. More spikes of rock came tearing out of the ground, but Zaku dodged them easily and took off towards a spot in the arena. "You can't hide from these eyes Raijin!" He plunged the blade straight down into the ground and Raijin came flying up, inches away from it.

"You're indeed better than I thought!" Raijin said as he formed a complex hand seal. "Desert Coffin Jutsu!" He screamed and sand tore out of the ground and surrounded Zaku. He slashed it away, but it just reformed behind the blade.

"I'll crush you with my power!" Raijin screamed as the sand solidified around Zaku. "Desert Graveyard Jutsu!" Raijin screamed and the sand came crushing in to destroy Zaku. It formed the shape of a person, but not a crushed one. The sand went exploding off and Zaku was standing there, surrounded in a layer of green energy. "You overestimated yourself Raijin, let me show you how we deal with that!" Zaku screamed and grabbed Raijin around the neck. Raijin choked and grabbed Zaku's hand and tried to pry it away. Zaku raised his sword and slashed at Raijin. The blade stopped inches from his head and was held off by an orange light emitting from Raijin's body. Raijin closed his eyes and started to shake. "No… no not like this… No Shukaku…." His eyes opened back up and they were no longer human. They were solid black with tan cross shaped pupils.

"What the hell?" Zaku said as Raijin easily wrenched his hand away from around his neck. He powered up and Zaku was sent flying backwards. Raijin reached up and ripped the mask from his face. He was drooling a lot and his teeth had all turned into long dagger like fangs. "RRRRRRAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" He screamed and his fingers grew longer and became spiked and catlike ears tore through his headdress. His skin slowly turned into a sandy texture and a thick tail came out from underneath his trench coat. Two spikes burst out of each of his shoulder blades and his neck cracked and strained as it grew longer. His arms stretched out and almost touched the ground as his legs snapped into double joints. A long black tongue lulled out of his mouth and licked his face. His head cocked to the side and he grinned. He spoke in a deep and echoed voice.

"Who are you? You are human no? Goooooood, it has been a long time since I tasted flesh!" Shukaku had taken over Raijin's body now, there was no telling what kind of power he had.

Mako shook his head as he looked on. "Raijin you fool, have you no control over your Bijuu? This is bad, if Shukaku is able to release his full power with so many people around…"

Kakashi looked down from his prestige box and grunted. "Get ANBU, tell them to spread out and contain the area, we can't have any casualties." His assistant disappeared and Kakashi shook his head. "To think, this kind of power and they are only Genin…"

ANBU members appeared out of nowhere all around the top of the arena wall. They were wearing their public attire, the long black cloaks and white animal masks with red markings. They all started to make had seals and mumbled. A purple dome of chakra formed over the arena and separated the crowd from the fighters.

Zaku could feel the power radiating off of Raijin in waves. He powered his Vorpal Blade back up and got ready. "You would stand against me!" Raijin said laughing.

"Come get some, ugly." Zaku said. Raijin dropped to all fours and charged him with his long black tongue hanging out and screaming maniacally. Zaku let his chakra loose in a surge and powered up to his limit. "Burning Limit Jutsu!" His body buffed and he charged Raijin. They clashed fiercely, chakra exploding off of them as they smashed into each other time and time again. They were nearly equal in speed, Zaku was just slightly faster. But Raijin dominated him in pure power. The Vorpal Blade couldn't cut through Raijin's powerful energy field, no doubt because the ridiculous power of Shukaku. Raijin smashed through Zaku's defenses with ease, knocking him around like a rag doll. Zaku managed to stay one step ahead of the possessed Raijin most of the time, but when he fell behind a split second, he paid for it. Raijin grabbed Zaku's foot and flung him head over heels towards the wall. Zaku rebounded off of the wall instead of hitting it, but Raijin was already on him, and smashed him into it with a powerful kick. Zaku came falling out, but caught his balance just in time to duck a swipe from Raijin's clawed hand. His tail came tearing around and smashed into Zaku's face, sending him bouncing off the ground and rolling away. Raijin jumped high and came down with both hands smashing into Zaku with heavy force. Zaku coughed up blood as Raijin picked him up by the face and threw him into the air. "Shit… he's way to strong…" He said to himself. Raijin jumped up after him and grabbed a hold of his legs and swung him back down to the ground. Zaku hit hard and thought he felt something break as he fell out of his limit jutsu. Raijin came crashing down, but Zaku rolled away at the last moment. He leapt up and threw a handful of shurikens that stuck in Raijin's chest. Raijin looked down at them and laughed. They fell out and his skin reformed within seconds.

"You are pathetic." He said and laughed again. His arm stretched out and slashed Zaku across the chest and sent him to the ground. He started walking towards Zaku and his other arm stretched out and punched him in the side hard.

"AAAAGGGHHHH" Zaku spit up more blood and rolled to his side. "It's too much… I… I'm so much stronger than before but… but it's not nearly enough…" Raijin reached him and stomped down hard. Zaku cried out in pain as he was stomped brutally over and over and slowly lost consciousness.

Zaku opened his eyes slowly. He sat up and realized that he wasn't in the arena anymore. "Fuck… Did I lose the match?" He looked around but he wasn't in the hospital. He stood up and saw that he was in a steel hallway with fog coming up to his knees. He wandered down the hall trying to figure out were he was. He came across many other halls and corridors that all seemed to lead to more halls. After what seemed like forever he came into a room with a huge barred gate on one wall. Beyond the gate was nothing but darkness, but he could tell something was there. "CCCLLLLOOOOOOSSSSSEEEERRRRRR" a heavy echoing voice rang out from beyond the gate. Zaku took another step, but didn't get to close. The smoke around the gate slowly began to glow green as tiny bolts of electricity ran through it.

"CCCLLLLOOOOSSSSEEEERRR" The voice boomed out again. It rattled every bone in his body when it spoke and sent shockwaves through the air. Zaku took another step closer to the gate and two massive glowing green eyes opened within the darkness. Zaku's blood ran cold as pure fear struck him. Enormous fanged teeth slowly came into view as whatever was behind the gate smiled. Zaku felt its overwhelming hot breath flow over him as it blew some of the fog away. He couldn't help but get closer to the gate despite the immense fear. Zaku got within a foot of the gate and whatever it was on the other side snapped at the gate viciously. Zaku fell down and scrambled away. It laughed and smiled again.

"Worthless little worm, Have you any idea who I am?" It said. Zaku shook his head and couldn't find the words to go along with it.

"As I thought, you are pathetic." Zaku was confused, and whatever this thing was scared the hell out of him, but he was tired of being called that.

"Fuck off monster!" Zaku said as he stood up. It laughed and spoke again.

"That is more like it little worm. For the time being I am imprisoned here in this wretched place. That is already enough, but you have to be so pathetic that you put me in danger as well?" Zaku wasn't sure what to think at first, than it hit him.

"Oh god… You're a Bijuu? This is my mind isn't it?" The thing laughed again and nodded. "Good, I'm glad to see that at least you can think, if nothing else."

"Then… I am a Jinchuuriki after all?" Zaku said amazed.

"You are nothing but my prison little worm, you will do well to remember that. But if you die, you may very well take me with you! And I will not have that."

"But… If I die, wouldn't you be freed?" Zaku said.

It snarled out as if it was angry. "FOOOOOL! If you were to die when we have no symbiotic relationship, I may simply fail to exist. Wait…. I sense another… after so long in darkness… who is it… which of my brethren do I sense?"

Zaku thought about it. "Shukaku! Raijin of the sands possesses the demon Shukaku!"

"Idiot! No mortal my possess one of our power. But… Shukaku… yes, it has been a long time since I have felt your presence. This is the one who threatens your life?" It laughed and shook its head. "Shukaku is nothing compared to my power, He is one of the weakest of my brethren." Zaku gritted his teeth and tensed up, if Shukaku was weak, than what else lay in store for him? "Than lend me your power demon! If you're in my body, then I'm gonna' start chargin' you rent you big son of a bitch!" It snarled and the charged fog swirled around Zaku. He felt like he was burning alive as the chakra engulfed him.

"If you think that you can handle a fraction of my power little worm, than be my guest Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh Heh." Zaku convulsed and screamed in pain as the chakra flowed into him and filled his body like molten steel.

Zaku's eyes shot open and he reached one hand up and caught Raijin's foot. His eyes slowly turned black and the center of his eyes stayed white. Fangs slid from his teeth and his fingernails turned black and became like claws. Raijin's eyes grew wide as Zaku's body bulged and twisted until it became lanky with extreme muscle definition.

"You…" Raijin said as he looked down at Zaku. Zaku smiled and began to crush Reijin's foot in his hand. Raijin winced and tried to pull his foot away, but couldn't.

"Ry… Ryumaru?" Raijin stammered out. Zaku grinned and threw Raijin to the side. He leapt to his feet and stretched. The Vorpal Blade exploded onto his arm powerfully and he pointed it at Raijin.

"Shukaku, it's been a long time." He said in a voice that sounded like his and the demons overtop of each other. Raijin let his tongue flicker out and craned his neck to the side.

"Ryumaru, so it is you. Why do you hold back so much of your power? You have hardly altered the body of that host." Zaku looked down at his hands and than up to Raijin.

"This is all the power that I need to kill you Shukaku." He laughed as chakra came off of him in waves.

Ino couldn't believe what she was seeing. "What the hell is going on?" She said. Mako smiled. "It looks as if your friend was finally uncovered his Bijuu." He shook his head and laughed. "And to think that Raijin was foolish enough to let his Bijuu take over that much of his body."

Naruto frowned from up in the stands. "It's finally happened…what were you thinking Sasuke?" Sasuke shook his head and sighed. "I tried to avoid it when we were training, he had no idea it was there until now… It must have awakened on its own." Sakura looked back and forth at them. "You two knew about this!"

"Of course they did Sakura, I had to tell Sasuke when he became Zaku's sensei, and Naruto could tell because of Kyuubi." Hinata said. Sakura looked over at Hinata and scratched her head. "You knew too?" Hinata blushed and sighed.

"I… I was there when it happened." She said. "My… my sister invited me out on a picnic one day shortly after Zaku was born. Her and her husband were secretly thinking about leaving the head family as I did years before. A man approached us, begging for help. He had been badly injured and said that there was a monster inside of him. If he died, it would escape and destroy everything in its path. My sister's husband agreed to help, to perform an exorcism. Unfortunately the man died during the procedure and something went wrong. My brother in law tried to seal the demon into his own body, but his life was ripped from him. Somehow the demon was sealed within Zaku unintentionally. My sister grabbed her child, but the demon blasted chakra out of Zaku's little body. My sister was gravely injured on that day, but the demon subsided, and we never spoke of it again. We said that Zaku's father and the other man killed each other in a battle, but my sister was injured during the fight. Years later my sister poisoned her son and leapt from a cliff to her death. The pain of her child being a monster had eaten at her insides for so long… We thought that Zaku had died, but the next day he awoke. He was more or less a vegetable for weeks, and the head family wanted nothing to do with him. Naruto and I took him in, and a couple of days later, he woke up just fine, a little bit of memory loss, but healthy."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, all of this had happened in secrecy right under everyone's noses.

Zaku slashed his blade and lopped Raijin's arm off with ease. "This is quite the jutsu little worm, you just needed to give it a power boost." Ryumaru said. Zaku could feel the demon using his body and he could see out of his eyes, but Ryumaru was controlling him. He strained and tried to pry back his body, and Ryumaru lost control.

"Eh? What are you doing you little worm?" The demon demanded. Zaku breathed heavily as he got used to the massive chakra boost.

"You're in my body demon, not the other way around." Ryumaru growled deep in anger. Zaku looked at Raijin, no at Shukaku, Raijin wasn't conscious like he was.

Shukaku held his stump shoulder and growled. No blood came out of the wound; he was solid all the way through. His other arm shot out and grabbed the severed one and pulled it back to him. "You're going to pay for that!" The arm reattached with sand bonding it and Shukaku powered up his chakra. Zaku waved for him to come and get some.

"Come on, if you think you can stand against me." Chakra swirled around him and the ground cracked beneath his feet. Zaku grinned as he felt the power flow through him. This was the strength he needed, this was true power. Shukaku screamed and tentacles of sand came ripping out of his body and whipping at Zaku. He dodged them easily and dashed in towards Shukaku. He was way to fast to be stopped, running circles around Shukaku and dashing back and forth, slashing the demon with each pass. Shukaku screamed as his arm was lopped off again and huge gashes were cut out of his body. Zaku continued to dash back and forth, getting faster and faster, not always cutting Shukaku now, he was taunting him. Shukaku roared with furry and a swirling sandstorm came up around him. Zaku dashed back and got into a defensive position. The sandstorm raged like a tornado around Shukaku as his body reformed. "You think you can play with me you worthless little pest!" Shukaku screamed at the top of his lungs. Zaku grinned and pointed his sword at Shukaku.

"We've been fighting for a while now demon and I think I've had enough of your ugly face, what do you say I lop it off?" Zaku shot from were he was to the other side of Shukaku's sand storm in the blink of an eye. The tornado of sand split down the middle and quickly dispersed. Shukaku stood silently, as a line of energy ran down the middle of his body. He slowly fell into two halves, but tiny tentacles of sand latched the two halves together and slowly bonded them back to each other as he fell to the ground. His body cracked and slowly disintegrated into sand, revealing Raijin's beaten body underneath. Everything was quiet for nearly a minute, than the crowd exploded into cheers like Zaku had never heard before. ANBU dropped the shield they had surrounding the arena and the judge poked his head in from where he had been hiding behind the shield.

"Well it looks like the winner is Hyuuga Zaku!" The judge said nervously. The crowd continued to explode as Zaku took a deep breath and let himself power down. The second the chakra left him he got lightheaded and nearly passed out. He dropped down to one knee and winced at the pain in every muscle of his body. He coughed hard and felt like he was going to pass out again. "What… what the hell…" He said to himself. Ryumaru's voice came from somewhere deep within him. "Little worm, this is the price your mortal body pays for sharing my power." The demon laughed. Zaku coughed again and shakily stood up.

"Dammit… To think that it strains my body this much…" He made his way past the unconscious Raijin.

"That's was the craziest thing I have ever seen." Ino said when Zaku made it back up to the waiting room. He gave her a weary smile and sat down against the wall.

"Yeah tell me about it… I… just need to rest for a moment…" He said and closed his eyes. Kiba stood on the other side of the room looking at him with a deep burning rage in his eyes. He gritted his teeth and his feral claws slid from his fingers. Kiba growled deep in his throat and took a step towards Zaku. Dosu put a hand on Kiba's shoulder from behind him and spoke quietly. "Now is not the time for your fulfillment feral one." Dosu said calmly. Kiba looked back at him, than slowly calmed down.

Aburame Shuno who had been standing silently in the corner stepped up next to Mako.

"I trust that you are back to your full strength after your last fight?" He said to Mako. Mako looked over at him and smiled. "Of course, I have had more than enough rest since my last match to give you my full attention." Shuno nodded and got ready.


	12. Mako VS Shuno!

_**Chapter 12: Mako V.S. Shuno!**_

_**Deadly Insects and Dangerous Waves!**_

The judge announced their match up and waited for them to come out. Mako leapt out the window and Shuno took his time walking down the stairs. Mako smiled and powered up his chakra, this place had already fulfilled his need for worthy opponents, and it was only the second round of this tournament. Shuno held his arms out and his coat wavered slightly.

"Mako of the mists, I, Aburame Shuno challenge you. With all of my honor I beg to you, fight me with everything you have and hold nothing back."

"You wish to test yourself against one of my full power? I admire your tenacity but that is not a wise decision Konoha Shinobi." Mako said.

Shuno smiled from under his collar and shook his head. "I believe that you have misunderstood what I said. I want you to come at me with everything you have, with every fiber of your being, with every ounce of chakra in your body, come at me and don't hold anything back. Because if you do hold back, Mako of the Mists, you will die."

Mako's eyes widened in surprise. "What kind of power does this Shinobi posses that he thinks he can kill me so easily?" Mako said to himself.

"Whether you are a fool with a death wish, or you are as powerful as you think, I think I will oblige your request." Mako said as he powered up his chakra. A being deep within him began to stir and awaken. Its voice slowly became audible inside of his head as it awoke from its long slumber. Mako smiled and shook his head. "Not just yet, but soon, soon I will unleash you."

Shuno's jacket bulged and swirled as billions of bugs swarmed out of his sleeves like black clouds. Mako powered up his chakra and water droplets pulled out of the air and formed swirling blobs of water around him. He threw his hands forward and the water flew towards Shuno. The water and the clouds of bugs collided violently and the water quickly engulfed the bugs. Within seconds the water fell to the ground as the bugs swarmed forward.

"What!" Mako yelled as he scrambled away from the swarms of deadly insects.

"These are the Aburame clan's special insects, the chakra beetles. They live on chakra and thanks to evolution and special breeding, they have become quite adapt at draining it." Mako cursed and tried to stay one step ahead of the bugs. "Dammit they drained the chakra from my attacks so quickly that it stopped the attack!" He waved his arm and water concentrated into blobs, than froze and flew towards Shuno. The bug swarm got in the way, and condensed to close that it caught the spikes. "Dammit, I have to find a way around this." Mako leapt into the air and jets of water shot out under his feet. He flew towards Shuno, throwing more ice spikes. The bugs caught the spikes and swarmed his water jets and Mako was sent falling out of the air. He landed on his feet and dashed at Shuno with an ice spike. Shuno had his hands in his pockets and sidestepped Mako and kicked him hard in the stomach. He kicked him in rapid succession and finished with a spinning kick to the head that sent Mako crashing to the ground.

"I see the way your mind works, I use ranged attacks that rely on living creatures fighting for me, therefore I must be weak in melee combat. Unfortunately for you that mistake has been made before." Mako rolled away as the swarms of bugs reached him. They stuck to him like magnets as he jumped backwards and tried to brush them off.

"Son of a bitch!" He screamed as he could feel the chakra being drained from him. More bugs swarmed onto him and he punched the ground, sending a shockwave of water erupting out and washing the bugs away. He back flipped and turned to throw an ice spike at Shuno while the bugs were distracted, but he was gone. Shuno kicked him hard in the back several times before Mako rolled away. He recovered his balance and dashed towards Shuno, now aware that he could fight. He drove the spike deep into his enemy's chest, but Shuno exploded into a wave of bugs that swarmed Mako at such close range. Mako screamed and tried to wipe the bugs off, but they poured onto him thicker and thicker as they sucked away his chakra faster than he thought possible. Mako couldn't get two seconds to think about some kind of strategy, the bugs were on him constantly. He couldn't hold them off for long with his water attacks, they drained the chakra out of his attacks faster than they could do damage. He dropped down to a knee as the light was blocked out by the enormous cloud of insects around him. Mako started to get light headed and his body became numb. Something inside of him snapped, and he knew what it was.

"I… I have no choice…" Mako said to himself.

Shuno adjusted his sunglasses as he felt the chakra increase. "Is this the power he spoke of?" He said to himself. The mass of bugs bulged and grew as something pushed from inside of it. An explosion of bright blue chakra sent the bugs flying away and regrouping by Shuno. Mako stood with blue chakra radiating off of him. His skin had become a light gray and his eyes glowed a bright blue. His ears were long and pointed and his fingernails were black and clawed. He had two black stripes horizontal under each of his eyes and fanged K-9s.

"Now you're in for a real treat, fool." Mako said as he balled up his fists. Shuno took a step back and adjusted is sun glasses. "This is an interesting development." He said casually. His bugs swarmed out and surrounded the field of chakra around Mako and started to drain it. Mako laughed and crossed his arms. "They can absorb all they want, I have nearly limitless chakra now, and you wouldn't be able to take it all even if I let you." He said grinning. Shuno laughed as his bugs swarmed back to him and went back into his coat. He began glowing with power and cracked his neck. "That's fine with me, my insects stored all of the chakra they took from you, and are giving it to me." Mako snarled and waved his hand. "You tricky little bastard." He said as he started walking towards Shuno. Shuno grinned and performed a hand seal. "I can't just hang back and use simple techniques now. Thousand Stings Jutsu!" He reached up and pulled down his collar. His mouth opened up as far as it would go and thousands of bees swarmed out. The bees swarmed onto Mako and began stinging him viciously. Mako screamed in pain and powered his chakra, destroying the bees in a wave of energy. "This is all you have! You attack me with this measly showing!" Mako formed a huge ice sword in his hands and ran at Shuno. Shuno smiled and performed a hand seal. "Venom Explosion Jutsu!" He screamed, and the venom from the bee stings inside of Mako's body turned into something similar to napalm.

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGRRRRRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!" Mako dropped to his knees in pain and the sword turned to water. Shuno made another hand seal and held is hands out. "Binding Web Jutsu!" Holes in his palms opened up and thick webbing shot out, covering Mako in layers as he tried to struggle free. "That should slow you down long enough…" He began powering up his chakra and did a complex hand seal. He bit his thumb and slammed his hand down into the ground. The blood from his thumb activated the jutsu and symbols and writing spread out over the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" The area around him exploded in smoke and engulfed him. Mako sliced his way out of the cocoon with two ice blades and burst from it in a rage. "You're only delaying the inevitable!" Mako screamed. The smoke cleared and Shuno stood on the back of a gigantic insect.

"What in god's name is that?" Mako snarled. Shuno crossed his arms and laughed. "This is the King Scorpion Wasp, the most powerful of all insect summons!" It had a scorpion tail that hung below its body, and two scythe-like pincers. The rest of it resembled a giant wasp with four wings and black and blue coloring. Mako frowned and spun the ice blades. "You are certainly more troublesome than I had expected." He said. The wasp lifted off of the ground, the sound of its wings beating sounded like a helicopter. Its tail shot a stream of liquid in a jet, Mako jumped to the side as the liquid hit the ground. It steamed and bubbled like acid and burned a hole in the ground within seconds. Mako grinned and rushed the giant bug. "You are a dangerous little pest aren't you!" He screamed. Shuno laughed and yelled back. "I think that you will find this is more than a mere pest!" Mako laughed back and waved his arms. "I wasn't talking about the bug!" He yelled as ice spikes materialized and shot at Shuno. The wasp slashed them away with its scythes. The wasp attacked with its tail in lightening fast slashes and strikes, spewing acid all over the place. Mako dodged and slashed back with his ice blades. They fought as if sword fighters, the wasp using its tail and giant scythes and Mako fighting with the ice blades. The insect proved to be fast for its size. They slowly ascended into the air, Mako using water jets on his feet and keeping up with the insect. Massive gobs of webbing shot from its mouth and engulfed Mako. He slashed wildly and cut the webbing away. Its wings rubbed together for a split second as it flew, sending a sonic blast tearing out and smashing into Mako. He went flying backwards off balance and the wasp shot another blast of acid at him. "Bastard!" He yelled as he got his balance and barely dodged the acid. He threw the ice blades away and did a hand seal. "Death Rain Jutsu!" He screamed and shards of ice began raining from the sky. Shuno held his hands up and his bugs swarmed out, catching every shard close to him and the wasp with ease and throwing them to the side. "Are you still underestimating me? Or is that the limit to your power?" Shuno said. Mako gritted his teeth and powered up his chakra. "Am I holding back to much? If I let Erideu out any more… I am not the fool that Raijin is; I control my Bijuu, not the other way around…" He slowly descended to the ground and let his Death Rain Jutsu ware off. He planted his feet and put his palms together, bringing them around to his side. A ball of water formed in his hands and water droplets started forming and sucking in towards the ball.

"This attack?" Shuno said to himself. "I… Do I have a counter attack for this? I won't let him use it!" He performed a hand seal as the wasp shot a spray of acid. A wall of ice shot up in front of Mako, the acid burned through it quickly, but it was stopped there.

"Locust of the Apocalypse Jutsu!" Shuno screamed and whipped out a scroll and smeared blood on it from his thumb. The scroll glowed bright and hundreds of locust came flying out and each of them carried an exploding scroll on a string behind them. Mako gritted his teeth and gathered chakra for the attack more quickly. The locust spread out and surrounded Mako, no single attack would stop them. He could only do simple attacks with this much chakra focus on one jutsu.

"He's in trouble." Zaku said. Ino turned around and looked at him. "It looks like it, but I'm not so sure it's as simple as it seems." She said looking back to the match. Zaku smiled and nodded. "It never is."

Kakashi leaned forward in his chair and looked up at the ANBU member closest to him. The ANBU member nodded, and they quickly raised the shield back up.

"It looks like they were gracious enough to open another option for me. I don't think I would have done it if there had to be casualties." Mako said to himself. The locusts swarmed in all at once, ready to explode. "Arctic Torrent Jutsu!" Mako screamed as he spun on his heels. The geyser of glowing blue water shot from his hands and he spun in a circle, his attack whipping around and destroying all of the locusts. The water kept going and slammed off the shield the ANBU members were holding up, sending shockwaves through it. He kept it spinning and brought it around towards Shuno. He sent more chakra into the attack and brought it to full power. Shuno cursed and braced himself. "You bastard, I didn't think ANBU would raise the shield again, and from what you've shown me so far I didn't think you'd do that if it endangered the audience…" The wasp shot another jet of acid, but it was swallowed up by the blue water beam. The beam hit the wasp and rocked it with the force of a semi truck. Shuno was sent flying off of it and plummeted to the ground. His bugs swarmed out and slowed his descent. He landed and looked up as the beam subsided. The giant scorpion wasp fell quickly to the ground, frozen solid. It shattered into a million pieces and un-summoned into clouds of smoke. Shuno dropped to a knee and started breathing heavily.

"It looks as if the chakra you stole from me has finally run out." Mako said as the dust settled. He slowly started walking towards Shuno and formed another giant ice sword. Shuno stood back up and his bugs swarmed from his coat. "I am not done yet, and if you think you're going to get an easy win your out of luck!"

Mako smiled and shook his head. "No, you have already proven that you're no easy victory my friend." The bugs swarmed at him, and make threw a single exploding scroll into the swarm. It blew up into a ball of fire, killing most of the insects. "They can't absorb chakra if I don't use any to attack them." Mako said casually. Shuno smiled sadly and shook his head.

"Finally figured that out did you?" He pulled a kunai from behind his back and held it up.

"Come then, let us finish this." Mako smiled and took another step forward. Something was wrong, he back flipped and dashed away just as the exploding scroll hidden on the ground detonated were he had just been. "You never give up do you?" Mako said with a frown. Shuno shrugged and laughed wearily. "I guess that I don't" He said. Mako rushed him, slashing wildly with his ice blade. Shuno dodged and attacked back, but Mako was far superior physically after his transformation. Shuno couldn't keep up, and was slowly worn down to nothing. Mako knocked the kunai from his hand and held the blade to his throat. "So, will you admit defeat, or are you a fool like the last person I gave this chance to?" Shino bowed his head. "I have nothing left to fight you with, and if this were a real situation I would be dead. There is no need to continue." Mako nodded and let the ice sword melt. The judge shouted the victory out to the crowd over his microphone and they cheered vigorously. ANBU dropped the shield and looked on. Mako sighed and let the transformation fade, the extra chakra went with it as he fell to a knee and held his head. Shuno walked to the back, disappointed that he had lost, even if it was to a Jinchuuriki. Mako warily made his way back to the waiting room to get ready for the semi finals. Zaku looked over at him as he walked into the room. Mako smiled and shook his head as to say: "Shut up" In as playful a way as enemies could.


	13. Bloody Battle of Friends!

_**Chapter 13: Unlucky Times!**_

_**Bloody Battle of Old Friends!**_

Kiba stuck his face up next to Ino's and sniffed the air. "Smells like trouble kitty cat."

She pulled away from him and shot him a dirty look. "Don't be an ass Kiba." She said and backed away from him. Ever since Kiba and Zaku had been at odds, she and Kiba had an uncomfortable silence between them. Kiba made her nervous now, like a strange dog that you didn't know whether it was going to slink away or maul you. Zaku stepped up beside Ino and stared Kiba down. "You're pushing your luck mutt." He said with a snarl. Kiba lowered his head slightly and seemed to growl under his breath. The image of him being a dangerous stray dog was solidified in Ino's mind.

"The final match up of the second round ladies and gentlemen, two fighters from right here in Konoha, Nara Ino and Inuzuka Kiba!" The judge shouted out from the arena. Kiba smirked and walked past Zaku and Ino. He leapt out the window and trotted towards the judge. Ino sighed and got into her fighting state of mind. She walked by Zaku and nodded. He nodded back but didn't say anything. He wanted to wish her good luck, but the nod she gave told him that she didn't want to psyche herself out.

Ino and Kiba faced off as a light wind blew dust around the arena. "No one to save you now kitty cat." Kiba said as he laughed and shook his head. Ino frowned at him and cracked her neck. "I don't need anyone to save me Kiba, especially not against you." She powered her chakra and her shadow wavered slightly. Kiba gritted his teeth and balled up his fists.

"I'll make you eat those words you miserable little cunt." He said, his voice already starting to strain with rage. Ino smiled to herself and grabbed a scroll from her pack, this might be easier than she thought. She twirled the scroll and slammed it to the ground, sending a line of writing spreading out to six points around the arena. Kiba surged his chakra and dropped to all fours. The ground rumbled as Kiba charged Ino at full speed with Akumaru behind him. Six black pillars shot out of the ground at equal distances around the edge of the arena, casting long shadows into the center. Kiba scrambled to a stop and leapt backwards away from a shadow. The shadows of the pillars all met in the center of the arena, creating a matrix of shadows. Kiba cocked his head to the side and looked at the shadows, something was off. Ino laughed and nodded. "Yeah, you can see it can't you? It's impossible for the shadows of those pillars to meet like that unless there are numerous light sources all around them. Unfortunately for you these are the pillars of shadow, a secret Nara clan jutsu!" She jumped into the center of the arena were the shadows all met. Kiba growled and sniffed the air. He didn't like this, he knew how annoying Ino could be with her shadow binding from training with her. "Nothing more than a minor annoyance." He said as Akumaru jumped onto his back. Ino laughed and did a hand seal. "If that's what you think, then by all means, prove me wrong." She said. Kiba howled and ran at her with Akumaru still on his back. He jumped and Akumaru was sent flying high above. Kiba landed and dashed to the side as the shadows swirled into one mass under his feet. Ino stood there, sill holding the hand seal. A shadow tentacle whipped up out of the ground and lashed the falling dog out of the air brutally, sending it smashing into one of the pillars. Kiba hesitated for a split second, his attack plan had already failed miserably. The shadows around his feet exploded upwards and engulfed him in darkness. Ino smiled as a section of shadow stretched out and caught Akumaru's shadow as the dog tried to get up. Kiba struggled inside of the seething mass of shadow that had engulfed him.

"You cant escape Kiba, the shadow pillars increase my power tenfold, and you are dumb enough to let me catch you so soon.

"Fang Destroyer Jutsu!" Ino braced herself as the shadows stretched and bulged under the stress of the attack from within. Kiba burst from the shadows like a spinning missile and came straight towards Ino. "Shit!" He dropped to the ground and shadow tentacles slashed at Kiba as he narrowly missed her. Her shadow binding jutsu wavered and broke from Akumaru and the little dog leapt into the air. He and Kiba collided and in a flash of light Kiba was transformed. He landed and flexed the muscles that came with his were wolf form. Ino stood back up and gritted her teeth. "He overpowered my shadows?" She took a step backwards and quickly performed a complicated hand seal. Kiba charged her, his mouth dripping with saliva as he howled crazily. She released her chakra and the shadows swirled around her in a spinning orb of darkness. "Ultimate Shadow Guard Jutsu!" She screamed and shadow tentacles swarmed out of the orb around her and lashed out at Kiba viciously. He took multiples hits that slashed him and cut his skin like blades. He screamed and kept charging her. More tentacles arose from the shadows and wrapped around his arms and legs. He kept charging, breaking free of one of the restraints, but more whipped around his body. Kiba kept pumping his lets, straining against the shadows as Ino struggled to keep the Jutsu up.

"YOU WILL NEVER STOP ME!" Kiba screamed as he dropped to all fours and began ripping chunks of ground up as he moved forward. Ino put all of her chakra into holding him back, but he was to strong. He opened his mouth wide and began snapping at her viciously. His teeth came within inches of her face and he snapped wildly. Ino shook with fear as she looked into his eyes, Kiba was gone, and there was only a monster there now. She jumped backwards and threw her hands forward. "Shadow Lance Jutsu!" She screamed and the shadow tentacles stiffened, turning into long lances. Four of them stabbed Kiba in the chest and stomach and went clear through. "Shadow Destruction Jutsu!" She yelled as tears formed in her eyes, it pained her to hurt her former friend. The shadow tentacles began to crush Kiba and he screamed in pain. "YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" He screamed and began writhing within the restraints. Ino poured her chakra into the attack. Kiba thrashed violently and screamed as the shadow lances piercing him and the tentacles crushing him began to loosen their hold. He raged like a frenzied beast as foam started to form in his mouth. Ino started to move backwards, fear slowly overtaking her. "Think Ino think… can he escape that? I don't have much chakra left… My style is made for stealth missions… I can't take this kind of straight forward combat." She let her strategic mind wander, and came up with a plan. She threw chloroform bombs at Kiba's feet, his super sense of smell multiplying the effects by a hundred. He slowly began to slow down, to lose his immense strength. She smiled and pulled an exploding scroll from her pouch. It was working so far, now for the second part of her plan. She threw the scroll and it landed it Kiba's feet, exploding into a ball of bright fire. She covered her face as rocks and dirt flew through the air.

"Shit, did she kill him?" Zaku said to himself.

The smoke cleared and a very hurt Kiba stood, barely conscious and in his human form. Ino smiled and sighed in relief. It was a close call, but she has stopped him… wait, what about Akumaru? She turned just in time to see the wounded dog leap through the air and rip into her forearm. She screamed and fell to the ground as the dog clamped onto her arm and thrashed violently. They rolled around in a bloody, dirty fight of desperation. She punched the dog in the nose violently, leaving spurts of blood, but he did not let go. The pain of him tearing into her arm was enormous. She reached for a kunai and plunged it deep into Akumaru's left eye. The dog yelped in pain and rolled away with the weapon sticking out of his eye socket. Ino held her badly bleeding arm close to her body and breathed heavily. She slowly arose to her feet and stumbled slightly. Akumaru was still crying and rolling around in the dirt as blood spurted out around the kunai in his eye. Kiba came out of nowhere and clasped his hands around Ino's neck from behind and began choking her. She choked out and fell to her knees. Kiba had lost most of his strength, but he still had enough to finish the job. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he slowly choked the life out of her. Tears streamed down from Ino's eyes and she choked out for breath. Kiba laughed and tightened his grip, his eyes lost in his own madness. They suddenly widened and he coughed, a sharp pain in his stomach. He looked down to see that Ino had driven a kunai deep into his abdomen. Kiba's grip on her slowly weakened and she scrambled away, choking and wheezing. Kiba dropped down to his knees and held the wound. "I… I…" He almost seemed puzzled as he held the kunai. He looked up, just at Ino came screaming at him with her fist drawn back. She punched him hard in the face and knocked him down. He threw a handful of shurikens out of nowhere and they stabbed across Ino's upper chest and shoulder.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" She screamed and spun away, dropping to the ground in pain. Kiba managed to stand up and pulled the kunai from his stomach. "I'll finish this! I'll kill you here and now!" He held the kunai above his head and brought it down in a death strike.

His hand was stopped in mid strike by someone holding his wrist. "What?" Kiba turned to see Sasuke standing beside of him and stopping his hand.

"You would kill a teammate so happily, you're no student of mine." He backhanded Kiba and sent him to the ground. Sasuke looked at the judge and nodded. The judge ran over and held up his microphone. "The winner of this match up is, Inuzuka Kiba!" Sasuke walked over to Ino and immediately started to aid her.

"RRRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Kiba screamed in a primal fury as his body burst into feral form. The judge turned towards him just in time to see Kiba leaping towards him. Sasuke looked back from Ino, but he couldn't imagine what Kiba was going to do. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, as the course of Kiba's life was changed with a single action. He slashed at the judge with his claws, ripping out the man's throat in one swipe and sending blood spraying like a fountain. Kiba kept going, flying towards Sasuke with mad rage overwhelming him. "YOU WON'T HOLD ME BACK ANY MORE!" Kiba screamed with fury.

Zaku could do nothing but watch in horror as he leapt from the window and rushed towards the scene unfolding before him. Sasuke jumped to his feet, grabbing Kiba's wrist and twisting it, breaking his arm and dislocating his shoulder in one smooth motion. Sasuke's other hand came up in a flash, jamming his index and middle fingers into the side of Kiba's neck; a pressure point, and sending him sprawling to the ground unconscious. Zaku reached them as Kiba hit the ground, he jumped Kiba's body and ran straight to Ino. Sasuke rushed over to the judge as medical personnel swarmed out of the doors with equipment. The crowd turned into a fluttering mass of yelling and talking, not believing what they had just seen. The ANBU members jumped down into the arena and converged on the area.

"Dammit, I didn't think something like this would happen…" The ANBU leader said absently. Sasuke pulled Zaku back from Ino as the medical personnel tended to her. The ANBU members grabbed Kiba's unconscious body and dragged him away.

Kakashi shook his head as he watched Kiba being taken away. He knew what would happen now, he had seen it before. If Kiba was lucky, the judge would survive, and he would only get a life sentence. If the judge died… Kiba's death wouldn't be far behind.

"What the hell happened between you two? There has to be something more than what I know for Kiba to be so stupid…" Sasuke said as he and Zaku walked back to the waiting room. Zaku looked back and Ino being carried away on a stretcher.

"I… The thing is… Kiba had feelings for Ino at one point, and she didn't feel the same way. Ino wanted someone else… me… And when Kiba found out about it, well that's when we fought that one time. He said that it was because of the way I acted, and I'm sure that had something to do with it… But I think that Kiba really cared deeply for her, something in him snapped when she rejected him, and he couldn't even take out his anger on me that day… I just… I never thought it would come to this. He must have been steadily getting more and more unstable as time went by, and no one was there for him… I feel like this is my fault." Sasuke looked at him as they reached the stairs.

"This is your fault Zaku, _this_ Kiba is the result of your actions. But it's his problem that he lost control, now he will have to deal the consequences." Sasuke leapt up the wall and disappeared into the crowd. Zaku hadn't expected Sasuke to agree that it was his fault, his conscience began to burn at him.

He made his way back up to the waiting room, only he, Mako and Dosu were left. Mako looked at him with a sympathetic stare but said nothing. Zaku walked over to the window and looked out it absently. "Your friend has quite the temper." Dosu said in his cryptic, raspy voice. Zaku spun around and grabbed him by the coat. He slammed Dosu against the wall and lifted him off of the ground by the collar. "If you for one second you think that I'm going let that slide, you're in for an ugly surprise!" Zaku screamed in his face. Dosu calmly looked Zaku in the face with his one burning eye. "I could have told you that he was going to try and finish the girl, after all, I did suggest it to him." Dosu said. Zaku had to think for a second to understand what he had just heard. "You… You did what? YOU DID WHAT!" Zaku gritted his teeth and shook with rage. "All this time, you were back here, whispering shit like that to Kiba! You crazy son of a bitch!" Zaku could feel the chakra starting to grow within him, there was something about his anger that seemed to get Ryumaru excited. "Now of course I couldn't have planned what happened, that was just an added bonus." Dosu said, urging Zaku on to attack him.

Mako put a hand on Zaku's shoulder. "Any fighting outside of a match is an automatic disqualification, you should know that." Mako said to him. Zaku slowly let his grip loosen as the idea of being disqualified sunk in. "Yeeeees, let that rage build, hate me, hate me and lust for the moment of my death." Dosu whispered into Zaku's ear as he let him go. Zaku balled his fist up, but stopped himself. "Play any mind games you want, you have a match with _me_ next." Zaku said to him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, due to unfortunate circumstances, we now have a new judge." Zaku was still staring at Dosu when the new voice came over the microphone.

"I'm the new judge! Believe it!"

Zaku recognized the voice and spun around to see Naruto standing in the middle of the arena with the microphone. "You've got to be kidding me." Zaku said to himself and shook his head. "We can now go on to the next match ups, Its Zaku versus Dosu, believe it!"


	14. The Puppet Master Dosu!

_**Chapter 14:The Puppet Master Dosu!**_

_**Fight the Strange Opponent!**_

Zaku waited for Dosu to make his way out into the arena. He had leapt out of the window and gotten out here as quickly as he could. Dosu took his time getting into the middle of the arena. Naruto leaned in towards Zaku and whispered. "You know anything about this guy?" He said. Zaku looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You know, you could probably get in trouble for trying to give me advice. Naruto leaned back and acted like he didn't know what he was talking about. "Huh? What are you talking about? I wasn't going to say anything…" He scratched his head and laughed. Zaku shook his head, thirty some years older, and Naruto was still Naruto. Dosu got to the center of the arena and stopped. Naruto looked back and forth between the two fighters. "Uh… ok, start!" He yelled and backed off.

Zaku turned his attention towards Dosu. Zaku activated his Byakugan silently and smiled. "Looks like he already made the switch." He powered up his chakra and let it accumulate in his hand. "Vorpal Blade Jutsu!" his chakra blade ignited onto his hand. "I think I've gotten the hang of this now…" He cracked his neck and yelled out to Dosu. "You're not nearly as smart as you think you are Dosu, these eyes let me see right through your little trick. And I must say, Genjutsu and Puppetry? You're quite the talented man."

(While Ninjutsu covers nearly every type of attack focused on chakra usage, and Taijutsu is physical combat and weapon mastery, Genjutsu is the art of illusions, focusing on fooling the body into believing something that isn't true, usually by tricking the senses.)

Zaku could see with his Byakugan that Dosu wasn't really standing before him, it was a type of puppet. Puppet masters used complex and deadly life sized puppets, controlled by strings of chakra. The Genjutsu faded from the puppet and showed its true form. It was a wooden mannequin-like figure with a torn black cloak and a stock of black hair. It craned its neck to the side, making a clicking sound every time it moved. Blades shot out of its palms and it seemed to get ready to strike. Zaku smiled and shrugged. "I knew about the Genjutsu, what makes you think that I can't trace the chakra threads back to you?" Zaku said. The puppet took one clicking step forward, and its hands shot out on cables. Zaku sidestepped the attack easily and sliced the cables, sending the hands flying away. He dashed around the puppet, and sliced the chakra wires that were invisible to the naked eye. The puppet fell to the ground as the cables were cut, and Zaku threw a handful of shurikens towards the spot were Dosu thought he was hidden. The shurikens hit the wall of the stadium just as Dosu jumped out of the way, breaking his invisibility. Zaku laughed and waved his blade around. "The snakes from your other matches were just illusions overtop of those extending hands on that puppet, and the blade in its hand is poisoned, making it seem like the snake bit, completing the illusion."

Dosu frowned and cracked his knuckles. "Well aren't you the miserable little spoilsport?" Dosu said as he pulled a scroll from inside of his long sleeves. Zaku smiled and got ready.

"I am the worst person someone like you could have fought. Not to mention that I still have to pay you back for pissing me off!" Dosu opened the scroll and started chanting. He threw the scroll up in the air and cut his thumb with a kunai than quickly made a hand seal. He caught the scroll slammed it on the ground hard. Summoning smoke engulfed him and covered the area. Zaku stood there waiting, after fighting Raijin, there was nothing Dosu could throw at him at he would be surprised by, or so he thought. The smoke cleared and there stood something Zaku had never expected to see, it looked like a robotic golem. It was close to nine feet tall, made out of all stainless steel. It was totally smooth except for the joints, and its chest and stomach were open as if it were a cockpit. Inside of the chest there was only an open cavity full of channels that led throughout the contraption. Dosu jumped up over top of it and landed in front. "Do you like it? This is my ultimate puppet, I call it the Steel Juggernaut." Zaku stood there, just staring at the monstrosity. He couldn't believe his eyes, it looked like something from the future. Dosu laughed and powered up his chakra. "I see that you are speechless." Dosu said. The crowd was speechless as well, no one knew what to say. This kind of Jutsu had never been done before.

Kakashi leaned forward in his seat and shook his head. "Unbelievable… This boy is truly a genus. To develop such an attack at his age… I can't imagine what he will be capable of given enough time…"

Dosu climbed inside of the chest cavity and it slowly closed around him. The thing slowly started to move as Dosu let his chakra run throughout it. His voice came from inside of it with a hollow tone. "This is quite the unique puppet, because you see, I control this puppet from the inside. The juggernaut opened and closed its hands as Dosu tested it out. Zaku wasn't sure what to think, this had caught him off guard.

"Its time for me to show you your place in this world, and that is bowing at my feet." Dosu and the juggernaut came charging at Zaku. Zaku snapped out of his confusion quickly and jumped away from the charge. The juggernaut was monstrous, but it was slow. Zaku threw a handful of shurikens at the juggernaut, but they bounced off harmlessly. Zaku gritted his teeth and pulled two exploding scrolls from his pocket. He threw him and they stuck to the surface of the juggernaut, exploding a second later. Dosu laughed from inside of the juggernaut as it walked out of the explosion, unharmed. "I am invincible now! There's no way you can touch me in here!" Dosu said as the juggernaut remained untouched.

"Maybe so, but you can only walk around slowly and wait to run out of chakra." Zaku said. Dosu laughed from inside of the juggernaut. "Ah, if only that were true." The juggernaut performed a hand seal and Zaku could see Dosu's chakra seeping out of it.

"There's no way he can do jutsu from inside of that thing…." Zaku said to himself.

"Fireball Jutsu!" Dosu yelled from inside of the juggernaut. Flames shot from its hands in fireballs and Zaku leapt out of the way just in time. "Holy shit, this thing is a war machine…" He said to himself. Zaku felt Ryumaru stir within him, the demon's voice ringing out in his head. "Fool, you are being shown up by a simple contraption! Destroy this pathetic toy and be done with it!" Zaku gritted his teeth. "There is nothing simple about that thing." Zaku said.

"You are an idiot little worm, there is nothing impressive about this power. Slice it in half and be done with it!" Ryumaru demanded. "Shut the hell up demon! Stop pestering me!" Zaku screamed. "Are you talking to yourself now?" Dosu said laughing from inside of the juggernaut. Zaku turned to him and yelled. "I wasn't talking to you loser!" He screamed. Zaku powered up his blade to full strength, slowly tapping into Ryumaru's power as the blade grew stronger and stronger. Zaku didn't realize it at first, but tapping into Ryumaru's power had already become easier. His blade pulsed with power and he slowly looked down at it. "This… power… I hardly even realized I was powering up…" Zaku made a conscious effort to power up the blade, and a tiny shockwave pulsed out as the blade surged. Ryumaru laughed as Zaku realized his new powers. "So, the little worm has noticed our new connection? My chakra and yours are intertwined now, it is nearly seamless to meld them together." Zaku smiled as he looked up at Dosu. "I understand now… I should just cut this tin can in half and get on with it!" Dosu took a step back in the juggernaut. "What… what is he doing?"

Zaku cracked his neck and started walking towards Dosu. Dosu grabbed a large piece of rubble off of the ground and threw it at Zaku. "You're kidding!" Zaku yelled as he slashed it in half. Dosu thought about it, this guy was an idiot, he couldn't cut through this puppet. "Come on! Come willingly to your death!" Dosu screamed and charged in his steel juggernaut. Zaku's walk turned into a trot, than a full on run as he closed the distance. Dosu screamed and lifted his arms above his head for a massive strike. Zaku grinned as Dosu charged him. He could see it clearly now, with this power and these eyes he could see what he had never seen before. He screamed as he slashed viciously and dashed past Dosu. The juggernaut stopped for a second, than turned towards Zaku. It tried to take a step, but its arms and legs fell off. It crashed to the ground in a heap of limbs and Dosu screamed with rage from within. Zaku leapt into the air and slashed open the chest. He reached in and ripped Dosu out, holding him by the throat and throwing him to the ground. "You're out of your league puppet master, this tournament is only for the big boys." Dosu scrambled to his feet and whipped out a scroll. Zaku was on him in an instant, and slashed the scroll in half. The Vorpal blade faded as Zaku got into the Juken stance. "Ultimate Juken, One Hundred and Sixty Four Strikes!" Zaku became a blur of movement as he nailed Dosu with the Juken strikes. Dosu screamed and tried to block the attack, but it was impossible. He fell to the ground in immense pain as his chakra was sealed off. Zaku stopped with his back facing Dosu. He looked back and frowned. "I warned you not to piss me off. I was going to really beat your ass, but humiliating you was so easy that I couldn't pass it up." Dosu's eye widened as he tried to focus his chakra and failed. Zaku turned and soccer kicked him in the face. Dosu went rolling away and holding his face. Zaku looked over to Naruto and pointed at Dosu. "He's done, call the match." Naruto ran over to towards Dosu and bent down beside him. "Are you ok? You still gonna fight?" He asked. Dosu got up to his hands and knees and shook his head. "No… for now I will make a tactical withdraw…" Naruto stood up and screamed over his microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, winner by give up, Hyuuga Zaku!" The crowd cheered and whooped. This hadn't been the highest powered fight, but Dosu had shown something no one had seen before, and Zaku had shown just how strong he was.

"I'm going to check on Ino." Zaku said as he walked away. Naruto looked at him as he walked away. "Uh… well… ok." Zaku walked through a door as someone else walked in. The other ninja made his way over to Naruto and said something to him. Naruto nodded and spoke to the crowd. "Unfortunately ladies and gentlemen, Inuzuka Kiba is unable to participate in his next match, making Mako the winner by default." The crowd let out disappointed sound as they mumbled around. "There will be a thirty minute recess until the next match is held… and ladies and gentlemen, that next match is the tournament finals!" The excitement of the crowd surged back in an instant and Naruto put the microphone away.

Zaku looked down at the unconscious Ino and shook his head. "Dammit Kiba… I swear if I get my hands on you…" "I don't think that will happen any time soon." Someone said from behind him. Zaku turned around to see Sasuke standing in the doorway. "The judge has died, they were able to repair most of the damage, but he had been to long without air. Kiba is going to be executed sometime soon." Zaku frowned and looked back down at Ino. "Kiba… how did all of this happen to us?" Sasuke walked in a put a hand on Zaku's shoulder. "You need to keep your mind on what is important right now, Ino will be just fine when she wakes up, and you have a match." Zaku nodded and started to walk out. "Zaku, I know I should have told you… about the Bijuu." Sasuke said. "Yeah, you should have." Zaku said. "Now that it has awakened, you have enough chakra to efficiently use those techniques I showed you." Zaku looked down at his hands, than back up to Sasuke. "Those techniques… the special ones of Konoha… I'm not sure how well I can use them." Sasuke crossed his arms and spoke. "To beat an elemental master, it is wise to use a mastery of your own element."

"I beat Raijin without any elemental jutsu." Zaku said. "Yes, and you were a fool not to use them. The earth jutsu would have been much easier to deal with if you had. Not to mention that boy lost his control and just used raw power, you didn't have to face his elements for long. Mako of the mists has one hundred times more control than Raijin of the sands, you will not get such an easy break with him."

"Easy? Were you watching the same fight as me? Raijin was powerful, more powerful than anyone I have ever fought!" Sasuke nodded. "Yes he was, but he had little control over that power. Your next opponent seems to have every bit as much power, if not more, and he has great control of it. If you want to win this fight Zaku, you're going to have to push further that what seems possible."

Zaku nodded quietly. "Make no mistake Zaku, you are already a Chuunin, as is Ino here. Hyuuga Jira, Aburame Shuno, so many of the fighters in this tournament has a guaranteed Chuunin promotion. This final round is just one more hurdle in order for you to obtain the power you need."


	15. Violent End of the Tournament!

**_Chapter 15: Climactic Battle!_**

_**Violent End of the Tournament!**_

The crowd roared with anticipation as Mako made his way to the center of the arena. Naruto spun the microphone in his hand and pointed towards Mako. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, our first combatant of the finals… Mako of the mist!" The crowd exploded into more cheers as Mako waved to them and slowly walked towards Naruto.

"And, from right here in Konoha…" The crowd erupted into cheers before he could even finish. "From right here in Konoha, our second combatant of the finals… Hyuuga Zaku!" Zaku emerged from a doorway and walked towards the center. The crowd was like a wave of sounds, drowning out everything else. They continued to erupt as Zaku stopped in front of Naruto and nodded. "I'm ready." He said. Naruto looked over to Mako. "As am I." Mako replied. Naruto nodded and backed off quickly. "Than let the Chuunin exam tournament finals, begin!"

The deafening crowd didn't die down as Mako and Zaku stared each other down. Zaku cracked his neck and stretched out his shoulder. Mako closed his eyes and calmed himself as he got ready. "I have been anticipating this since we met Zaku of Konoha." Mako said as he opened his eyes. "I can't of anything I'd rather be doing." Zaku said with a grin.

"Well than, shall we get started?" Mako said as he raised his fists. Zaku raised his fists and got serious. "Yeah, let's do this." There was a moment of tension so thick that you could feel it in the air. Everything seemed to stop, the wind, the sounds, even the light of day seemed to blur as the two fighters stared into each others eyes. Than, a split second later, it was shattered. An explosion of blue energy from Mako, and green energy from Zaku collided and sent shockwaves through the arena. The ANBU members immediately raised their shield from the top of the walls. The two spheres of energy pushed back and forth as Mako and Zaku powered up. "It's really a sham that you can't use that death rain jutsu with the ANBU shield up!" Zaku yelled. "That attack was amateur, and I wouldn't waste the chakra while fighting you!" Mako yelled back. The energy subsided and they both jumped back. "Raging Torrent Jutsu!" Mako yelled as large balls of water formed all around him. Zaku powered his chakra and got ready. The water balls swirled together and came at Zaku. He hit the ground and yelled. "Steel Wood Jutsu!" Black vines as thick as cars shot up out of the ground and surrounded Zaku. They wrapped into a tight dome, protecting Zaku as the water crashed into them. They stretched away and slid back underground a second later, and Zaku stood unharmed. Mako smiled and shook his head. "I see that you have held back some of your power for this fight?" Zaku smiled and shrugged. "I guess that elements aren't really my style, but I can't deny their effectiveness." He clenched his fists and swung his hands forward. Giant black roots shot from the ground and spiked towards Mako. He formed ice swords in his hands, and slashed at the roots. The ice shattered off of the roots as they swarmed out towards Mako. Zaku laughed and moved his hands around as more vines and roots shot from the ground and chased after Mako. "They don't call Konoha's special jutsu the steel woods for nothing!" Zaku yelled. Mako spun in the air, water forming around him and creating a tornado of water. The roots plunged into the water vortex like spears, but the force of the water spun them off their direction and kept them at bay. The roots receded back into the ground as Zaku grinned. "This takes a lot of chakra, but it's damn strong… Mako has a lot more practice at this kind of fighting than I do."

Hundreds of ice spikes came flying out of the spinning vortex of water shielding Mako. Zaku made a hand seal and concentrated. "Wooden Wall Jutsu!" Five huge trees ripped out of the ground, pressing into each other and forming a solid wall. The ice spikes hit the wall and just barely pierced the wood, leaving them covered in the spikes. The vortex of water subsided and Mako fell to the ground. He landed and did a hand seal. "Konoha's wooden element is quite the defensive weapon." He said. And he finished the hand seal. "Razor Water Jutsu!" Water formed into the shape of three saw blades and flew towards Zaku. They buzzed into the tree wall and began ripping through within seconds. Mako came around the side of the tree wall, the razor disks were just a distraction. He sent one razor disk around the side with him, flying at Zaku before he could react, and ripping him in half. Zaku's body exploded into leaves as the real him came flying out of the trees. "Got you now!" He yelled as vines shot from the ground below Mako and wrapped around his legs. Zaku threw his arms forward and the leaves from the substitution jutsu flew forward like shurikens. Mako held his arms up and a wall of water formed in front of him, forming into ice in an instant. The leaves stuck into the ice wall with surprising sharpness. The vines holding Mako's legs froze solid and he shattered them with a kunai. Zaku sliced the ice wall in half with his Vorpal blade as Mako back flipped away. Mako held his hands forward and jets of water shot out, slamming into Zaku and sending him flying backwards. A tree shot up out of the ground and blocked the jet of water as Zaku slid to a stop. Mako cut the water jet off and got into a fighting pose. Zaku grinned and held his left arm forward as the powered up the Vorpal blade on his right arm. Leaves began to swirl around Zaku. They shot towards Mako one at a time like bullets. Mako's hands were surrounded in spheres of water as he caught all of the leaves and threw them aside. Zaku started making a complex hand seal and powering up his chakra. "I'll end this right now! Steel Forest Jutsu!" Zaku screamed and the arena began to shake. Mako gritted his teeth and moved backwards. Giant trees and thick vines shot from the ground, filling the arena all the way to the top and sides with thick black forest. Zaku dropped to a knee and started breathing heavily. Mako's voice came from somewhere inside of the forest. "It seems that you have reached your elemental limits with this impressive jutsu Zaku. That's too bad, because there is no way you will be able to keep up with me!" Water slowly started to form around Zaku's feet, the arena was slowly being flooded. "You may have turned this into your landscape, but can you stop me before I turn it into mine?" Mako said from a location unknown to Zaku. "Byakugan!" He yelled, and his eyes showed him were Mako was. "The only one in trouble here is you Mako!" Zaku screamed as he clenched his fists and threw his arms forward. The trees surged towards Mako like they were alive, a wave of barbed vines and roots slashing at him. Mako's eyes burned blue as he began to transform. His skin turned grey and his ears got pointed, his fingernails turned black and grew into claws as fangs formed in his mouth. "I'm going to have to take this a step further than I expected…" His hair turned white as he powered up more. Two black lines formed under each eye and three slits formed on each side of his neck. His fingers became webbed as he kicked off his shoes and his toes did too. The slowly rising water came up to his waist as his legs melted together and formed a tail. He put his arms up and blue energy surrounded him, blowing the trees away. Zaku braced himself as Mako's chakra increased tenfold. "I cant hold this…" The trees sunk back into the ground as Zaku dropped the steel forest jutsu. The water continued to rise, up past Zaku's chest and kept going. "Dammit, gotta stay on top of this." Zaku said as he pulled himself up on top of the water with chakra focusing in his hands. He focused more into his feet and stood up on the surface of the water. It kept rising, only stopping when it had become three stories deep. ANBU raised their shield higher so that Zaku would have room. The crowd roared for the match, already the arena had been drastically changed, twice. Zaku kept on his toes, constantly moving around the surface of the water, mumbling to himself. "Just had to be a freaking water guy, I couldn't fight a nice normal person could I?" Zaku looked down into the water with his Byakugan. Mako was at the very bottom, focusing his chakra and doing a complex hand seal. "Great…" Zaku said to himself. "I have no way to reach him, he's tapped into a lot of his Bijuu…" Mako cut his thumb and his blood clouded the water. He waved his arms and the blood formed into a ball. "Summoning Jutsu!" He yelled and the water clouded up. Two shapes came tearing out of the clouded water at high speeds. "Shit…" Zaku said to himself. He jumped to the side as a giant black shark covered in silver tribal designs came crashing up out of the water. "Holy hell!" Zaku screamed as he jumped backwards when a second shark came up out of the water at him. He ignited his Vorpal blade and got ready as the sharks circled him. The one behind attacked, but Zaku back flipped over it, spinning in the air and slashing it's head off. "Did you forget Mako? My Byakugan lets me see three hundred and sixty degrees around my head, you can't surprise me!" The second shark came flying out of the water, and Zaku slashed it right down the middle into two halves. Mako came up to the surface with a smile on his face. "You are quite the opponent Zaku, but you can't fight me in the water." Zaku smiled and lifted a foot. "To be quite honest, I planed on fighting you _on_ the water." Mako dove back under water after saying: "Well I can't have that, now can I?" The water began to churn and swirl, waves began to form and crash, and a vortex formed in the center. "Shit, bastard is really making it hard for a guy to walk on water…" Ryumaru came to consciousness inside of Zaku's head. "Erideu… do I sense Erideu?" Ryumaru said. "If that's the name of Mako's Bijuu, than yeah you do."

"It has been a long time… such a long time… since I have faced my greatest rival." Zaku sighed and tried to keep his balance. "Well what a coincidence, right now his host is my greatest rival, feel like reliving old times?"

"The last time we fought, an entire civilization was lost… I believe they were called the Mayans…" Zaku blinked and tried to count back. "Just how old are you demon?" Ryumaru snarled at the question. "Older than you can fathom little worm." Zaku gritted his teeth as it was becoming increasingly harder to stand on the water. "I've been meaning to ask you buddy, just what exactly are you? Anything that can swim by chance?" Ryumaru growled ferociously and spoke as if he had been insulted. "FOOL! How dare you question my being! I am the great Ryumaru, so swift that I am the messenger of the gods! So benevolent that I alone control all of the forests in the world! I am known as Eikpyrnir to the Norsemen, Keresh to the Jews, And the Horned God of the Pagans! I am the White Stag Ryumaru!" Zaku could feel the immense power within him growing like a wildfire. Zaku dropped to is knees and held his chest as the chakra burned to the surface slowly. "The White… Stag…." Zaku's skin slowly turned to a pale white as his body stretched and cracked into a lanky and muscular form. His hair paled to white as well, as his fingernails turned black. His eyes blackened and his pupils glowed a bright green. Two bumps grew on his forehead and stretched out a full inch, pushing off his forehead protector as his legs double jointed. He screamed as his voice began to double between his and Ryumaru's voice. Green chakra rippled out from his body and engulfed him like fire.

"RRRUUUGGGGAAAAAHHHHH!" He screamed violently as he ripped his shirt off. Golden horns burst from the bumps on his forehead, than splintered out into antlers. White hair grew on his chest and shoulders as he roared again.

"RRRAAAGGHHH! I am RYUMARU!" He screamed as his transformation seemed to finish. Mako came up to the surface with a worried expression. "The fool… he let his demon out as much as Raijin did… In the presence of Ryumaru… Erideu will surely…" Before he could finish the sentence, a serrated dorsal fin burst from his back and his teeth all turned to fangs. "RYUMARU!" He screamed as his voice doubled. Zaku/Ryumaru turned his glowing gaze towards Mako/Erideu. Their energies collided, sending bursts of electricity surging across the arena. The water evaporated under the immense pressure as the two demon hosts fell to the ground. Mako/Erideu hovered above the ground since he had no feet.

Kakashi leapt up from his seat and jumped over the railing on his seating area. He landed next to the leader of the ANBU members. "We must contain them, anyway possible." He said. A lightening bolt hit the ANBU shield and sent shockwaves through it. All of the ANBU members winced in pain as they struggled to keep the shield up. Several members of the crowd leapt over to the arena wall, all of them powerful Shinobi. Naruto and Sasuke stood side by side next to Kakashi and waited for his order. "There is no way we can hold the shield if they release their full power, but maybe we can hold it long enough… If we can redirect their power, open a portal of some kind to channel it through…" Some of them nodded and started powering their chakra. "For those of you unable to perform the forbidden jutsu, help ANBU reinforce the shield." Kakashi said as he began the main phase of the forbidden portal jutsu.

The fields of energy combined into one swirling mass of blue and green energy. Zaku/Ryumaru and Mako/Erideu punched back and forth, the shockwaves ripping outwards from the blows. The ground shattered under their feet and the arena walls started to crack. They screamed and grappled, electricity shooting off of them as they touched.

Kakashi finished the complex hand sign as others around him performed the supporting seals. They poured their chakra into the jutsu as arcs of energy ripped at the inside of the shield. "Forbidden Jutsu! Portal of Emptiness!" Kakashi screamed.

Zaku/Ryumaru and Mako/Erideu unleashed their full powers in one mighty explosion. The force of two atomic bombs ripped into the vast nothingness they had been transported to. The world went white for a full minute as the greatest demonic energies the world had ever seen rocked the planes of man.

The world faded back to normal slowly. ANBU members and elite Shinobi lay drained and broken around the arena. Hokage Kakashi rested on a knee and breathed heavily as he dust began to settle. Zaku/Ryumaru stood in the center of the arena, Mako was deep within a crater in the wall on the far end and smoke was pouring off of him. Zaku/Ryumaru looked around, a divine euphoria radiating off of him like heat. He started walking towards Mako, grass and small flowers sprouting up instantly in all of his footprints. "You now witness my full power little worm, do you still wish to question it?" "My god… it was way more power than I've ever seen…" Zaku said in a daze. "Of course it is little worm, do not forget that." He rapidly turned back to normal and fell to his knees. His vision was blurred as he looked around him. He could feel every muscle in his body burning like it was on fire. Zaku tried to stay awake, the erupting of the crowd washing over him as numerous medical ninja and some others scrambled into what was left of the arena. Zaku passed out and hit the ground seconds before the medical ninja could reach him.

Zaku dreamed that he was in an endless field of long green grass, the winds blowing the grass like a sea of green. The sun was beautiful, it lit up the field in a brilliant array of light. He was standing face to face with a massive white stag. Its golden antlers reflecting the sunlight and it's green eyes glowing even in the well lit field. He was speechless as he stared into the eyes. It made him feel safe, like it was a symbol of all that was right, but at the same time, there was something dark about it. Like Ryumaru had said, nature was both a force of light and darkness, of creation and destruction. He felt himself beginning to awaken slowly as this place faded.

Zaku opened his eyes to see Ino looking down at him. "You finally woke up." She said with a warm smile. He sat up and a dull pain throbbed at him. "Agh…" He winced and struggled to totally sit up. He was covered in bandages and had an iv in his arm. "I feel like I've been out for a week…" Zaku said holding his head. "Nine days today actually." Ino said with a smile. "You've got to be kidding me… The tournament… who won?" Zaku asked sleepily.

"You tore me up good." Mako said from the doorway. He was covered in as many bandages as Zaku, but was on crutches too. Zaku smiled and shook his head. "It figures, I win and you're still the first one up." He said smiling. Mako came into the room and Sasuke followed behind him. "Sensei, I guess I did it." Zaku said to him. Sasuke nodded and cracked a smile. "Yeah you did, and it was amazing kid. I have some good news, and I have some bad news… which do you want first?" Sasuke said with his usually serious tone. Zaku looked at him and thought about it. "The good, I have a feeling I already know what the bad is about." Sasuke nodded and threw a paper over to Zaku.

"That is an official invitation to ANBU. Hokage Kakashi has personally requested your enrolment, I'm more than willing to second the enrolment." Ino smiled and squeezed Zaku's hand. "Isn't that great Zaku?" She said. Zaku smiled and nodded. ANBU was Konoha black ops, the best of the best. They did missions that where either to dangerous or to challenging for most Shinobi to participate in. Zaku liked the idea. He looked up at Sasuke and stopped smiling. "Sasuke… the bad news is about Kiba isn't it?" Zaku said. Everyone in the room got a bad look on their face. "Kiba… Kiba was executed the day before yesterday." Ino said quietly. Zaku felt a weight crush down on him. "Kiba was…" Zaku started to say, but Sasuke cut him off. "There is something more about Kiba…" Sasuke said. He looked over at Mako. Mako nodded and left the room, whatever he was going to say was confidential.

"Zaku, Kiba isn't dead." Sasuke said finally. "What!" Zaku and Ino said at the same time. "When he was to be executed, he was held in a cell overnight. He was gone in the morning, no traces of a breakout, and no evidence of where he had gone. His current location is unknown." Zaku went from one extreme to the other, first Kiba was dead, and he was sad for him; but than Kiba was very much alive, and dangerous. "And there are no traces whatsoever?" Zaku asked. Sasuke shook his head and frowned. "None, whomever it was that broke him out, they were good." "Do you have any suspects?" Ino asked. Sasuke pulled out a small black book and held it up. "This is the Bingo Book. It's a list of every rouge Shinobi there is, from A to Z. There are a lot of people in this book that could have been capable of this, but we don't know any who would have reason to help Kiba." Zaku looked out the window and shook his head. "Where are you Kiba?"


	16. The Elite ANBU!

_**Chapter 16: Time Moves Forward!**_

_**The Elite ANBU!**_

A man ran through the forest as fast as his legs would take him, scrambling over roots and looking back in fear as he ran. He leapt over a rock and kept running for his life. He head movement behind him, they found him. He spun around and pulled a revolver from his jacket. "Get back! Get back I swear I'll kill you!" He held the gun in his shaky hands and swung it around as he stared into the darkness of the thick forest. Something moved behind him, he spun around and fired the gun into a tree. "Dammit leave me alone!" He screamed.

"We can't do that, you're on our list." A voice said from somewhere in the dark. "I shouldn't be! I was framed!" He screamed. "That's not our problem, you're on the list weather you want to be or not." A second voice said from behind him. He spun and fired twice, the bullets going off into darkness. "I'll pay you! I'll pay you as much as you want, just leave me alone!" He pulled out a wad of money and held it up. A kunai flew out of the darkness and ripped the money from his hands, piercing it to a tree. "You can't buy your way out of this." A third voice said. "Damn you just leave me alone!" He screamed hysterically and fired another shot in the direction the kunai came from. He spun around and saw one of his pursuers come out of the darkness. It was an ANBU member. He wore nearly all black and white, like all ANBU members. He had baggy pants and a baggy zipped up jacket with a high collar. His face was covered by his white ANBU mask, it was in the style of a boar. Another ANBU member came out of the darkness as well. He had a black trench coat covering a white chest plate. His pants were black and baggy and he had white plate kneepads. His mask was in the style of a bird, and he had long black hair pulled back into a braded ponytail. A third ANBU came out after them. He had a black body suit with no sleeves and black fingerless gloves with white plates on them. His body was covered by a white chest plate held by straps and he had small white plate shoulder pads. His ANBU mask was in the style of a mole and he had a red lead symbol on the forehead, showing that he was the captain. "You can make this easier on yourself; tell me what I want to know." The mole said. The man panicked and fired a shot at the boar. The bullet ricocheted off of the mask and the boar just stood there. "That was the wrong decision." The bird said. The man screamed and fired his last bullet at the mole, but the ANBU captain dodged it easily. Seconds later the man was laying unconscious on the ground. The boar pulled a little book out of his coat and crossed off a name. "This guy appears to have been useless, and he was only a C rank."

"Goddamn waste of time then…" The bird said as he picked up the body and slung it over his shoulder. The mole turned and started to walk away. "Than lets get back to the village and drop him off to the prison." He said as he leapt into the trees.

Hokage Kakashi sat at his desk and looked through some papers. "Eh, I can't stand this paperwork…" He said to himself. There was a knock at the door. "Come in." He said, grateful for any reason to put paperwork off. The three ANBU members walked in and took a knee, bowing their heads. "Our mission is complete lord Hokage, we have delivered the criminal to the prison." Kakashi nodded and put his hands together. "Did he have any information?" He asked. The mole spoke. "Unfortunately not lord Hokage." Kakashi gritted his teeth and shook his head. "That is unfortunate, that was the last of the possible suspects." He said.

"I know… is there nothing else we can do?" The mole said. Kakashi shook his head and sighed. "No, there isn't anything we can do until he shows his face again… so until further notice you are free to do as you wish. "Hell yeah." The bird said as they all stood up.

"Thank you lord Hokage." The boar said respectfully. They left the room and walked out of the Hokage's office. The bird walked with his hands behind his head casually and laughed. "Well guys, I'm going to a hot spring village. Gonna get me a little tail!" He said laughing. The boar shook his head and put his hands in his pockets. "You really have no self control do you?" The bird laughed again. "What are you gonna do, _Captain?_" the bird said, emphasizing the word 'captain' jokingly like he didn't deserve it. The mole looked at him and shrugged. "I dunno, maybe go and see Ino." He said as he took off his mask. The mole was Zaku, now an ANBU captain. The bird took of his mask, he was Hyuuga Jira. "Jeez, just like you Zaku, so stuffy you only focus on one girl." He said with a grin. "Hey I'm not stuffy, well at least not compared to Shuno." Zaku said jokingly. The boar took off his mask, he was Aburame Shuno.

"You two focus far too much effort on fruitless ambitions." He said. Jira laughed and moved his hands around in a massaging motion. "I dunno Shuno, I can think of two big round melons that are worth my time." Zaku laughed and shook his head. He still had a hard time believing that he had become friends with Jira and Shuno. It had been four years since the Chuunin exams, Zaku had just recently celebrated this twentieth birthday. Shortly after joining ANBU Zaku had achieved the rank of Jounin along with quite a few of the Shinobi he had grown up with. He and Jira still got into arguments now and then, and there was no shortage of friendly insults, but for the most part they had started to get along after they were placed in the same ANBU squad. Shuno was his normal self, quiet and restrained, but he had lightened up slightly around Jira and Zaku.

"So what's on your 'to do' list Shuno?" Zaku said. Shuno adjusted his glasses. "I am going to tend to my insects and maybe…" Jira interrupted him. "You know Shuno, playing with bugs all the time and they'll be the only thing in your room at night, if you know what I mean." He said jokingly. Shuno cleared his throat. "Unfortunately I think I do." He said. Zaku and Jira laughed as they exited the building. "See you later." Zaku said as they went their separate ways.

A few minutes later Zaku was sitting on a bench near the village wall with a pair of dark sunglasses. The sun was setting and cast a beautiful red hue over the sky. A Jounin and her three Genin students came walking into town. Zaku pulled his sunglasses down and smiled. "Yo, looks like you picked up a few stragglers since the last time I saw you." Ino smiled and ran over to him. She had started wearing her hair different a while ago. It was now dark purple, and she had spiky bangs and the back was pulled into a short spiky ponytail. She had light purple lipstick and a light red eye shadow on. She had a purple tube top on with pink trim and baggy purple cargo pants. She had a mesh sleeve on her right arm, and a metal guard on her left forearm with her forehead protector tied on her left bicep. She had gotten an intricate tribal tattoo a year back that covered her left shoulder and the left side of her chest. Zaku jumped up and hugged her and they kissed. She had two girls in her Genin squad and they giggled. The boy rolled his eyes and looked away. "That's gross sensei." He said. Zaku laughed and crouched down in front of the Genin. "Well now, if you aren't the lucky little guy? Surrounded by three lovely ladies all the time!" Zaku laughed and ruffled the kid's hair. "It's a pain in my ass." The kid said with his arms crossed. Zaku stood up and smiled. Ino laughed and held up to tiny bells. "Pain in the ass huh? Tell me, who was it again who didn't get a bell?" The kid grumbled something, but didn't answer her. Everyone laughed and she put the bells away.

"So I take it that you two did get the bells?" Zaku said to the girls. They both blushed and nodded while giggling. "Alright, you guys can go home now." Ino said. The kids left and she held onto Zaku's arm. "Looks like you're popular with my students." Ino said. Zaku smiled and shrugged. "You know how it is, the ladies can't get enough of me." Zaku said jokingly. Ino laughed and punched his arm. They walked into town together and talked.

"So, did you find out anything about Kiba? I know that ANBU work is confidential, but…" Zaku stopped her. "No, we couldn't find out anything…" He said regretfully. She sighed and rubbed his arm. "I'm worried Zaku… The last time there we had any evidence of Kiba was when that village was destroyed." She said.

"We aren't even sure that he did that Ino..." Zaku said. "I know… but when we went there, it was like I could feel him…" Zaku nodded. "Yeah, I did too." He agreed. They stopped in front of Ino's apartment building and she smiled at him. "Are you coming up?" She asked.

"Demons couldn't keep me away." Zaku said with a smile. They went upstairs and Ino walked into her bedroom. "Take a seat, I'll just be a minute." She said. Zaku sat down on the couch and looked around. He had been to the messy little apartment quite a few times before, but it never got old. "Hey there." Ino said from the doorway. She was holding a bottle of wine and had a see through nighty on.

He woke up the next morning and tried to get up. "Shit…" He said groggily when he noticed that he was handcuffed to the couch. His head felt like it would split in two. A tiny Vorpal blade crackled to life at the tip of his index finger and he cut the cuffs off. He stood up and started looking around for his pants. He found them and pulled them on sleepily. "Man, I love my life." He said to himself while smiling as he rubbed his head. Zaku got dressed the rest of the way and looked around the apartment for Ino. He only found a note by the door. "Already left with my Genin, I hope you're still here when I get back. Love, Ino." Zaku smiled and sat the letter back down. He planned on being here later, but for now he figured he would go and get some ramen. Zaku opened the door to see Sasuke standing there and getting ready to knock. "Uh… Yo." Zaku said. Sasuke looked surprised and shook his head. "I stopped by your apartment and couldn't find you, so I was going to see if Ino knew where you were but…" Zaku smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah uh… what was it sensei?" Zaku said as he went stepped out of the apartment and shut the door. Him and Sasuke walked out of the building. "You know, you don't have to call me that anymore." Sasuke said. Zaku laughed and shook his head. "Well if I didn't, you may start to feel old." He said jokingly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He was forty three next month, and streaks of grey had started to form on the sides of his hair. "I may be getting older, but I can still beat you any day kid." Sasuke said with a slight smile.

"Come on now, you know that I'm stronger than you sensei." Zaku said with a grin.

"Do I need to show you the difference between stronger and better?" Sasuke said. Zaku shook his head and laughed. "No need for that old man. By the way, was there something that you wanted me for?" He asked. Sasuke nodded and got a serious look across his face. "Hokage Kakashi wanted to see you." Zaku stopped and looked at him. "For Kakashi to send _you_ specifically…" Zaku said. Sasuke nodded and sighed. "Yeah, it's about Kiba." Zaku was gone in a flash. Sasuke smiled and followed after him. "The kid is fast." He said to himself.

Hokage Kakashi sat at his desk and read the note in his hands again. Zaku jumped in through his open window and landed in front of his desk. "Lord Hokage, I…" He started, but Kakashi cut him off. "He struck again." Kakashi said. Zaku stood up and balled up his fists. "Kiba…" He said. Kakashi got a grim look on his face. "Another small village, just inside of our countries territory, but it's closer to the Village Hidden in the flames." Kakashi said.

"Are there any survivors this time?" Sasuke said as he came through the door.

"None." Kakashi said. "Every man, woman, and child… an entire village wiped off the face of the earth…" Zaku said.

"There was something left in the village…" Kakashi said as he reached into his desk. He pulled out a forehead protector and threw it to Zaku. He looked down at it and his blood ran cold. There was a diagonal scar across it and it was from here in Konoha. 'Zaku' was written across it in blood. "This was mine…" Zaku said as he touched the scar across his nose and forehead. "How did he get this? I thought it was lost." Zaku said. Kakashi shook his head. "I don't know..." He said. "There was something else…" He gave the note that he had been looking at to Zaku. "This is…" Zaku read it and wasn't sure what it was. "It's a longitude and latitude." Kakashi said. Sasuke took the note and looked it over. "This is a wasteland… the edge of a forest… nothing here but where the trees meet the wasteland, nothing else." Sasuke said. Kakashi nodded. "Yeah I know, it's a challenge… for you Zaku." Kakashi said. Zaku clenched his fists closed his eyes. "Kiba… you've killed so many people and hidden for so long… why do this now?" Kakashi stood up and walked over to Zaku. "He knows that he can't run forever, if he has to fight, he wants it to be on his terms." Kakashi said. Zaku clenched his fists again and turned to leave. "Where are you going Zaku?" Sasuke asked. "Where the hell do you think I'm going?" Zaku said. "I'm not going to let you go alone, at least let me send you with your team."

"Shuno is playing with his bugs, and Jira is… out of town." Zaku said as he opened the door. Shuno and Jira were standing there and looking at him.

"Yeah right, you find the asshole and you think we're getting left behind?" Jira said.

"You guys want to come that bad?" Zaku asked. Shuno adjusted his glasses. "Of course we do, you are our captain and this is a high risk mission, we wouldn't let you go alone under any circumstances." Zaku smiled and calmed down a bit. "Alright, but I'm leaving right now." Zaku said. Jira smiled and put his hands behind his head. "Alright, but you're gonna be sorry for me only getting one night of hot spring happiness, I may not be my usually cheerful self." Shuno looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Zaku laughed.

"Team Zaku… this is a dangerous mission, you are to capture the fugitive known as 'Beast Kiba' alive if possible. He is to pay for his crimes against the people of this land, and be executed publicly." Kakashi said in an official tone. "Yes lord Hokage." They said in unison and bowed down. "Than you are dismissed, best of luck." They were gone in a blur of movement. Within minutes they were outside of Konoha and tearing through the forest at top speeds with their masks down and into full ANBU mode. They jetted from tree to tree silently, all of them with their minds focused on what was to come. They covered the many miles of forest quickly, team Zaku was known for their extreme speed. The forest became thicker and thicker as they got closer to their destination. "Wait…" Zaku said and they stopped in a thick tree. "Yeah, I feel it too…" Shuno said. Zaku and Jira simultaneously activated their Byakugan and searched the forest. "Just a bunch of wolves…" Jira said as he calmed down. Zaku shook his head. "Don't be so stupid Jira, they are all identical except for one… it's a jutsu." Jira grunted and searched back into the forest. "So what… the wolves are… oh shit, Akumaru?" Jira said in surprise. "Yeah, Kiba's dog was a wolf…" Shuno said absently. "How many?" He asked. "Ten including the big one, I'm assuming that one is Akumaru." Zaku said. "Go on ahead than, I'll take care of the dogs." Jira said as he cracked his knuckles. Shuno and Zaku looked at him and nodded. "Yeah, make sure to catch up quickly." Zaku said as they dashed away. The wolves started to move, but Jira powered his chakra and their attention was diverted to him. "Come and get me you dirty mutts…" Jira said as he dropped from the tree. He watched them circle around him with his Byakugan. He got into his Juken stance and got ready.


	17. The Fate of Inuzuka Kiba!

_**Chapter 17: Powerful Confrontations!**_

_**The Fate of Inuzkua Kiba!**_

Zaku and Shuno tore along through the trees as they left Jira behind them. "Jira is strong, but I have no idea the strength of a full power Inuzuka clan beast." Shuno said. "I've never seen one myself, but from what I hear, Jira had better not get cocky." Zaku said as they moved. They burst out of the tree line and into the wastelands of fire country. The arena was all patches of field and dirt for miles with large plateaus scattered everywhere. They saw two figures standing in the distance and waiting for them. Heavy winds blew across the wastelands and shook Zaku and Shuno. Zaku felt his body pump up as he looked out over the wasteland. "Kiba…" He said to himself as he stared at the figures in the distance. He forced himself not to use his Byakugan to get a closer look, he wanted to see Kiba close up. They made their way towards the figures with one thing on their minds. As they got closer one of the figures went down into a cavern nearby. The other waited for them. He had a long black cloak with a hood that blew in the wind, show his black pants and coat beneath it. His face was covered by a flat white mask with red tribal designs on the left side of it. There was no eye hole on the left side of the mask, and Zaku immediately realized who it was. "Dosu!" Zaku screamed at the top of his lungs. Dosu waved a gloved hand casually and spoke from behind his mask as Zaku and Shuno reached him. "Well now, it has been what, four years now? And look at us! Everyone wearing masks! Of I feel so happy that all of us can finally get along!" He said theatrically. "Is Kiba in there?" Zaku said with a fiery tone as he motioned towards the cave. Dosu laughed and crossed his arms. "I don't know, perhaps he is?" He said mockingly. "Shuno!" Zaku said as he walked towards the cave. "Understood…" Shuno said as he took a step towards Dosu. Dosu turned his head towards Zaku as he walked by, and Shuno caught his attention by powering his chakra. "I am your opponent puppet master, their fight is a personal one." Shuno said as he took his mask off and clipped it to the side of his belt. Dosu looked back at him and laughed. "Oh I agree hive-man, their battle will be one of great personal glory, and their bloodshed will be glorious indeed." He shot his hand out to the side and a massive scythe formed out of chakra and solidified into an ornate weapon. "Let ours be the same."

Jira cracked his neck as the wolves closed in on him. The first of them slowly walked out of the trees and snarled at him. The others slowly came out, flashing their teeth and growling. "If you think that the great Jira is going to get touched by a couple of animals, than you bastards are in for a surprise." A deep growling voice came back out of the woods. "And if you think that I am a mere animal 'oh great Jira' than you are the one in for a surprise." Jira turned to see Akumaru slowly step out into the clearing and all of the wolves whimper in his presence. He was nearly five feet tall at the shoulder. His fur was a dark grey, nearly black in the dark forest. He had a spiky mane of hair around his head and a strip of it going down his back. The wolf's muscles were bulged and rippled under his fur and his fangs dripped with drool in a brutal grin. He was missing his right eye and it was covered with a three strap eye patch. Akumaru had spiked metal bracelets on each of his legs and three of his fangs were metal. Jira took a step back and tried to shake off the feeling of terror that had snuck up on him. Akumaru growled out an order to his pack. "Rip 'em up."

Zaku walked down the damp candle lit corridor. He came into a large room and couldn't believe his eyes. The room was full of candles and there was a large table in the middle. Uzumaki Naruto was strapped to the table and unconscious, his body covered in various scrolls and writings. "Naruto!" Zaku said in surprise at the sight of his uncle. "Yes, he is a very important part of our plan." Someone said from the darkness. "Kiba, come out and let me see you, face to face." Zaku said towards the darkness. Kiba stepped out and Zaku felt his blood run cold as he finally saw Kiba for the first time in four years. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and he had gotten incredible muscle definition and he had loose wrap hanging from around his neck. His hands were tied in dirty wrap and he pulled them tight with his teeth. He still wore his forehead protector, but it was off to one side and was old and tattered. He had baggy black shorts on with metal hip protectors held on by straps and his feet were wrapped instead of having shoes. His right eye was different from his left, it looked life a wolf's eye. Kiba grinned and held touched his right eye. "This? Oh well this is from my brother Akumaru. You see now he is with me always…" He said as he cocked his head to the side. "Kiba! You have a lot to answer for, and what are you doing to Naruto!" Zaku screamed at him. Kiba looked over at Naruto and smiled. "He is only a vessel in which my destiny awaits!" He said as he grinned again and flexed his muscles. "What are you talking about Kiba!" Zaku said as he took off his ANBU mask. He threw it at Kiba like it was a shuriken, and Kiba caught it. He closed his hand and crushed the mask easily. "This fool has been gracious enough to hold my Bijuu for me his entire life, and now I plan on taking it." He said with a crazy look in his eyes.

"You plan on taking it? Dosu… Dosu is going to extract the Bijuu from Naruto and put it into you?" Zaku said in disbelief. Kiba laughed and tensed his muscles again. "It was easy for Dosu to manipulate this old fool, Naruto was never the brightest of Shinobi." He said.

Zaku powered up his chakra. "Why Kiba, why are you doing all of this? Why have you killed so many people and why did it have to turn out this way!" Zaku screamed. Kiba scratched his face and grinned. "Because I was weak Zaku, you showed me that time and again! But Dosu, Dosu showed my how to be strong! Dosu showed me that the only way I could gain true power was by destroying everything that was in my way! I can feel it now Zaku, so close to true power! I can feel it in the blood of my enemies! I can taste it in their blood, smell it in the sweet aroma! The more I spill the more the power gets closer and closer to being within my reach!" Kiba stammered as lust filled his voice. Zaku gritted his teeth as he realized that his friend was truly gone. "I'm sorry Kiba, my orders are to bring you back alive… and until I got here I thought that it was possible… But now I know that you have to die."

Shuno whipped his arms forwards as billions of tiny bugs swarmed out in clouds. Dosu spun his scythe and slammed it hard into the ground as chakra poured off of it. The chakra seemed into the ground, and seconds later the earth began to shake. Shuno took step back as he pulled out a kunai and got ready. A massive hand shot up out of the ground and began pulling the rest of itself up. Shuno looked on in horror as the monstrosity emerged. It was close to ten feet tall, muscles bulging under the strain of their own power. Its hulking form ripped up through the ground and roared with fury in nothing in particular. It was more or less the shape of a man, but it had not skin, it was only leathery muscle and bone. A row of bone spikes ran down the center of its head and down its spine. Its knuckles extended out into bone spikes and its face had a low sloping brow and a huge extending jaw. "Kanomaru! Destroy this little pest!" Dosu screamed to the giant freakish man. Shuno adjusted his glasses and looked his new enemy up and down. "And just what exactly are you?" He said in a serious tone. "RRRRRRAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" The freak screamed as he leapt high into the air and came crashing down like a meteor.

Jira jumped one of the wolves and brought his palm facing as another appeared right in front of him. "Juken Shotgun Jutsu!" He screamed and a blast of chakra burst from his outstretched hand. The wolf went flying backwards in a smoking heap as Jira ducked another wolf and flipped to the side to avoid another. He clenched both of his fists as he powered his chakra. "Juken Rapid Fire Jutsu!" He screamed and spun as the machinegun like chakra burst from his hands. The wolves all leapt at him furiously, but the chakra ripped through them brutally and sent all of them falling to the ground. Akumaru stepped up and growled at Jira. "I have to do this myself than!" The wolf roared and charged Jira. Jira focused his special jutsu into both hand and fired his shotgun from his left, and his rapid fire from his right. Akumaru was fast, every bit as fast as Zaku when Jira trained with him. He dashed from one side to the other, hardly visible as he became a blur of movement despite his size. Jira ducked as the wolf came from behind him and attacked him with a snap that would have taken his head off. Jira spun on the ground and kicked his feet out. Akumaru jumped the attack and came crashing in at him. Jira rolled backwards as the wolf crashed into the ground. "Fang Destroyer Jutsu!" Akumaru howled and leapt into the air. Instantly his speed increased tenfold as the tore through the air like a chakra missile. Jira fired his shotgun jutsu at close rang, but it bounced the deadly wolf. Jira dove to the ground as Akumaru flew by and ripped a tree apart. Jira jumped to his feet and began firing both of his jutsu into the woods as Akumaru flew around him. They quickly began destroying the thick trees around them as wood and chakra flew everywhere. Akumaru barely nipped Jira's shoulder and shredded his trench coat sleeve. Jira winced and held his now blood arm in pain. "Dammit you fucking mutt!" He screamed and held both hands out. "Juken Buster Cannon Jutsu!" Akumaru turned in the air and came straight at him. Red chakra crackled at Jira's fingertips and glowing particles began forming in the air around him. "RRRRRAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!" He screamed as he let lose the beam of pure destructive chakra and its crimson glow illuminated the entire forest. Akumaru came crashing straight forward into the beam, and the shockwave rocked the woods as it splintered trees and sent tons of dirt flying.

Kiba disappeared into the shadows and Zaku followed after him. "I'll be back uncle Naruto." He said as he passed the unconscious man. He found himself in what was an enormous underground cavern. Huge pillars lined the place every fifteen feet and stretched all the way up to the ceiling. Some of them had fires burning on little shelves on them, but only a few. Making the chamber very poorly lit. "Byakugan!" Zaku said, but nothing happened. Laugher came from the darkness ahead of him. "Who is the unobservant one now Zaku?" Kiba said. Zaku looked around and saw that every pillar had a scroll on it. Not exploding ones he realized after a second, sealing scrolls. "Kiba, if you think disabling my Byakugan is enough for you to survive this fight, I'm sorry that you haven't improved over the years." Zaku said as he powered his chakra. Kiba growled from somewhere off in the dark and Zaku could feel his chakra increasing as well. Zaku jumped forwards as Kiba slid around the side of a pillar and swung at him. Kiba was in feral form and ripped a chunk out of the pillar. Zaku jumped into the air and let lose a barrage of kicks to the face that rocked Kiba backwards. He yelled and grabbed a hold of one of Zaku's legs and swung him hard into a pillar. He crushed into it and it crumbled to pieces. Kiba screamed as his hand burned with pain and he pulled it away quickly from Zaku. "I have complete control of my chakra Kiba! My entire body can be used as a weapon, you can't touch me!" Zaku leapt at him and slashed his foot horizontally in the air. Chakra flowed off of it and left a gash across Kiba's chest. Kiba screamed and grabbed Zaku's other foot as it swung around at him. He ignored the pain in his hand and head butted Zaku hard, sending him flying backwards. Kiba dashed in and out of the pillars as slashed Zaku hard across his back. Zaku exploded into smoke as Kiba stumbled forwards in surprise. He quickly caught his balance and shot a hand up to the side, catching the real Zaku around the throat. Zaku's eyes bulged in surprise as Kiba lifted him off of the ground with one hand. "This place my dull you powers Zaku, but my natural senses aren't the slightest bit affected!" He said as he rammed Zaku through a pillar and let go of him before any damage could be done to his hand. Zaku burst up out of the pillar and brought his Vorpal blade around in a deadly slash. Kiba did a hand seal in an instant. "Iron Hide Jutsu!" He screamed as the blade hit him and did nothing. Zaku jumped backwards and wasn't sure what had happened. "You say I haven't improved Zaku, but I have." Kiba said as he grinned and cracked his neck. Zaku let a Vorpal blade form on each of his fingers on his other hand. He swiped the hand and the blades flew off like chakra shurikens. They bounced off of Kiba as he laughed. Zaku was caught off guard as Kiba burst into three and disappeared. The three Kibas pummeled Zaku viciously back and forth as he slashed at them to no avail. Zaku cursed himself and jumped straight up. The Kibas all jumped after him and one grabbed his legs and another hit him hard in the chest. The third flew above him and came crashing down with both fists smashing into Zaku's head. The other Kiba let go as Zaku crashed down to the ground in a heap. They landed around him and laughed as one rolled him over with a foot. "Shit…" They all said in unison as they saw the exploding scroll attached to Zaku's chest. It detonated into a ball of fire and rocked the cavern. Pillars and rocks flew everywhere as two of the Kibas disappeared. The third climbed out of the rubble smoking and cracked his neck. "Is that all you can do Zaku? Cheap trick won't get you out of this alive!" Kiba heard something above him and looked up. Zaku was standing on the ceiling with chakra and he bit his thumb. "Summoning Jutsu!" He screamed as he punched the ceiling and symbols and words flew out. Kiba crouched, and jumped straight up into the air. He was inches away from Zaku when the summon burst from the ceiling and swirled around Zaku's left arm. It was a small dragon, some six feet long and red and black. It opened its mouth and fire spewed forth from it. Kiba kicked off of a pillar went flying away. Zaku dropped to the ground. The dragon coiled around his arm and its head ended just above his hand. Its tail flickered off of his shoulder and it looked around with smoke coming out of his mouth. Zaku spun and the dragon shot flame into a pillar that he pointed it at. Kiba crashed up through the ground and hit Zaku hard in the face. He stumbled backwards but the flame burst from the dragon's mouth and engulfed Kiba. He screamed and stumbled backwards as he frantically tried to wipe the flames off of him. Zaku watched as Kiba flailed in pain, but than stopped and started laughing. "Are you stupid Zaku? I am invincible now!" Kiba said from beneath the flames. "Kiba…"

Shuno let his bugs swarm in a torrent of darkness as they covered the Kanomaru. "What? No chakra at all?" He said to himself when the bugs came back to him. Dosu laughed and bowed. "He is my own personal creation; puppetry with wood and metal became sooo boring as my powers increased. He is my most successful flesh craft, the others were… less than desirable." Dosu said with theatrics. Shuno grimaced and powered his charka. "Summoning Jutsu!" he screamed and slammed his fist down after biting it. A giant centipede burst from the ground and spun up around Shuno. He waved his hands forwards and the centipede charged Kanomaru. The hulking beast grappled with the insect ten times his size and stopped it dead in it's tracks. Shuno turned to Dosu to fight him head on, but the puppet master was gone. Shuno turned his attention back to the fight at hand. He raced up the back of the centipede and leapt off of it, overtop of Kanomaru. He pulled his coat down from his face as bees swarmed out of his mouth. "Thousand Stings Jutsu!" He yelled as the bees swarmed Kanomaru. The giant screamed in pain as the bees stung him thousands of times and Shuno finished the attack. "Exploding Venom Jutsu!" The centipede overpowered Kanomaru and they went crashing into the ground.

The smoke cleared and Jira climbed out from underneath the smoking remnants of a tree. He brushed the soot and dirt off of himself and coughed a couple of times. He threw his mask aside as Akumaru emerged from the debris, smoke rolling off of him. The wolf growled deeply and shook the dirt off of himself. Jira powered his chakra back up and got ready. "You are going to regret that, human." Akumaru said with a glimmer of rage in his eyes. "Wolf Pack Jutsu!" He screamed and chakra exploded off of him. Dozens of black wolves burst up from the ground with glowing red eyes and drooling mouths. Jira grimaced and got into Juken style. "One Hundred and Sixty Four Divine Strikes! Jira Special!" He screamed as he was engulfed in the black wolves. Thin beams of chakra shot from his fingertips and lanced through all of the wolves, destroying them instantly. The beams kept coming at a rapid fire, but they didn't disappear, they all circled around and headed towards Akumaru. The wolf took off through the woods, the beams crashing into trees all around him as he ran. He dashed to the side, narrowly avoiding one and pumping up to full speed. They hit all around him like an energy rain, with explosive results. He leapt into the air and avoided a cluster of them as they detonated on the ground. He turned to look back, there were still quite a few. "Dammit!" The wolf said as he kicked off of a tree and took off in another direction. He turned forward just in time to see Jira standing there with his hands forward. "Double Barrel Shotgun Jutsu!" He screamed at chakra burst from his hands. Akumaru tried to stop, but behind him was just as bad as in front. He cut hard to the left, but one of the chakra beams lanced into his back leg as the shotgun chakra blew a hole in his side. He crashed to the ground like a rag doll as more of the chakra beams came lancing down into him. Akumaru howled out in pain one last time as he struggled to get up, but failed to do so. Jira sighed as he let his power drop and he dropped down to a knee. He could feel that he had used too much chakra, the wolf had surprised him. "No one fucks with me mutt." He said as he stood back up and headed in the direction that Shuno and Mako had gone.

Kiba's head cocked to the side as he seemed to be listening for something. "Aku… Akumaru?" He said horrified as he reached up and touched his eye. A tear ran down his face from his human eye and he looked over at Zaku. "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO!" He screamed as rage quickly overtook his grief. Zaku took a step back as the chakra exploded off of Kiba like a bomb. The cavern started to collapse around them as Kiba carelessly powered up. "RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!" He screamed at the top of his lungs and chakra swirled around him and ripped at the pillars. Zaku couldn't believe the raw power. "If he's this strong now… Than if he gets a Bijuu…" Zaku un-summoned the dragon and let his chakra begin to climb along with Kiba. "I can't let you do this Kiba! You'll bring down the whole place on us!" Zaku screamed as he made his way back towards where Naruto was. Kiba kept screaming as his body bulked up uncontrollably. His hair grew into a huge mane and his bones snapped and twisted. The painful transformation took over him as he grew a full two feet taller. He screamed as he ripped at his skin, ripping it off as black fur burst from underneath. His face exploded into a wolf's head and blood ran from the shell he had just shed. "RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He roared a bestial scream that rocked the collapsing cavern. Zaku turned and ran to Naruto. He burst into the room, but didn't see what he expected. Dosu was standing there with Naruto over his shoulder. "It looks as if my colleague there has shortened our stay in this fine place." He said as he bowed. "I bid you adieu." He said as a giant piece of stone came crashing down on him. Zaku turned back to see two glowing red eyes in the darkness and staring at him. "KIBA!" He screamed and his chakra exploded violently.

Shuno stumbled as the ground beneath him began to shake. Kanomaru ripped the centipede's head off in one violent twist of his hands and the summoned creature exploded into a cloud of smoke. "This is bad…" Shuno said as he powered his chakra and got ready, this beast was stronger than he had thought. The ground beneath him exploded as a figure burst up and leapt away into the distance. "Kiba?" Shuno said as he watched the wolf-like figure bound off into the distance. Kanomaru took off in the same direction, jumping and running faster than what seemed possible for his size. "What the hell is going on!" Shuno said to himself. He turned to see Dosu standing behind him with Naruto over his shoulder. "You again! Is that Uzumaki Naruto!" Dosu laughed and took off in direction Kiba and Kanomaru had gone. "I can try and stop me, but I think your friend needs some help now!" Dosu yelled back. Shuno looked back to the hole that Kiba had made in the ground. "Zaku!" He yelled as he leapt down into the hole.

Jira burst out of the woods and made his way over to the large hole in the ground. Shuno jumped up out of it with an unconscious Zaku over his shoulder. He was torn up bad, his clothing was shredded and he was covered in blood. "I leave you two alone for five damn minutes and look what happens!" Jira yelled. "This is no time for jokes Jira!" Shuno said to him. "Right… our orders were to capture Kiba, do we go after him or not?" Jira said. "No, the captain's health takes precedence here." Shuno said. Jira nodded and they took off back towards the village.

Kiba screamed as they stopped at the base of a cliff. "It was only supposed to be a test Dosu! It was only supposed to be a test of his power! Now I can't feel Akumaru anymore! I can't feel him Dosu! They killed him! They killed him!" He screamed hysterically, still in his werewolf form. Dosu waved his hand and Kiba fell to the ground and turned back to normal. "Shut up you damn fool! The mutt was of no consequence to us!" Dosu said and threw Naruto to Kanomaru. "Carry him." He said. "Get up and quit sniveling Kiba, the time has come to put our plan into action."


End file.
